> Tim, your question immediately made me think of a singer named Yma > Sumac, who was touted as a Polynesian with a 7-octave range or some > such. It seems she was just a singer from New Jersey named Amy Camus > which is Yma Sumac spelled backwards!
But isn't Yma Sumac, Peruvian or Argentinean? I remembered one radio announcer said that her voice comes oh so rarely and she's from either Peru or Argentina. In history we were taught that a soprano called Jenny Lind has an unrivalled octave but she was used a freak-show attraction in one famous traveling circus. What about Minnie Riperton? Or Cleo Laine? Joseph in Manila (don't like high-pitched voices much)
