Marjorie Margaret Conley

Marjorie Margaret Conley (24 June 1931 – 11 August 1959) was an Australian operatic soprano.

Biography Marjorie Conley was born on 24 June 1931 in Stanmore, Sydney, New South Wales. Her parents were Queenslanders Henry Conley, a baker, and his wife Evelyn Conley .

Conley was educated at Mascot and Gardeners Road public schools and learned to play the piano at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Convent. She then studied at the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music, undertaking advanced vocal work with Florence Taylor. In 1952, she won the national vocal section of the prestigious ABC Young Performers Awards. That year she toured with the ABC. Conley won the Dame Nellie Melba Cup in 1953 and the Mobil Quest in 1955. In 1953, Conley sang the lead operatic roles for Clarice Lorenz's Opera Australia, including at the first performance of John Antill's Endymion. After their marriage, Conley and her husband both joined the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust (AETT) company for the inaugural Mozart season of 1956.

Conley and her husband had a son together, David, in 1957. She collapsed due to a cerebral haemorrhage while holidaying with her young family at Surfers Paradise. She died three weeks later on 11 August 1959 at Brisbane, Queensland, aged 28. She was buried at Woronora Cemetery, Sydney.