“But it was her humanity and kindness that really touched people… [We] will miss her warmth, sparkle and gloriously self-deprecating humour,” the agent said.
Dame Felicity lived with “her illness with great dignity and acceptance” and “was characteristically classy and elegant to the end”, the agent added.
Born on 8 May, 1947 in Cheltenham, Dame Felicity was musical from an early age.
At five-years-old she was playing the piano and by 12 she was singing and playing violin.
She went on to study at the Royal Academy of Music, and made her operatic debut and breakthrough role as a last minute stand-in as the character Pamina in Mozart’s The Magic Flute in 1975.
At home, she was seen frequently on television, sang regularly at the BBC Proms and was made a Dame in 1996.
She was also the recipient of the Légion d’Honneur, France’s highest cultural award.