Nicole Cabell (born October 17, 1977) is an American opera singer. She is best known as the 2005 winner of the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition.[1]
Cabell was born in Panorama City, California. Her grandfather, Luther Lanier, was the first African American Chief in the Sheriff's Department in Los Angeles.[2] She is of African American, Korean and Caucasian ancestry, and was brought up in the California beach town of Ventura.[3] As a child, she did not listen to classical music, but she did play the flute in her junior high school band.[3] She and a classmate used to play basketball together and would "imitate opera singers".[3] Her mother encouraged her to join the school choir and she tried out for a school musical and was a success.[3]