Interesting Mr. Red mentioned Kathleen Ferrier. Hers (on the London label) was one of the earliest LPs I heard when I was first learning.

Style apart, I will always be grateful to her for the song "Weel May the Keel Row." The first Tyneside song I ever heard, and loved, and still sing -- surprising it's not heard more often on our Yank side of the water. A beauty.

Bob