Spanish opera singer Montserrat Caballe has died in Barcelona. She was 85.
Caballe began her career in 1956 in Basel, Switzerland, and performed more than 4,000 times.
The world-famous soprano is widely regarded as the last opera diva.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez lamented the "sad news" on Twitter on Saturday.
"A great messenger of our country has died. Montserrat Caballe, her voice and her sweetness will always stay with us," he wrote.
Caballe had been brought to hospital with a bladder problem and remained their for the past two weeks.
She died at Barcelona's Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau on Saturday morning.
She had been plagued for years with health issues.
After a fall six years ago, the mother of two and grandmother of one could barely walk and was generally confined to a wheelchair.
She remained seated in her last appearances.
Caballe was born on April 12, 1933, in Barcelona.
Her international breakthrough came in 1965 when she starred in Gaetano Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia in Carnegie Hall in New York.
Australian Associated Press
