Born Frances Leone Lynch in
Vancouver, Washington, Yeend grew up in
Portland, Oregon. She had very little musical training before entering
Washington State University (then Washington State College) in
Pullman, Washington where she studied singing. Following several years of college, she worked as a music teacher for a few years, during which time she also sang as a recitalist and on the radio. She also made her professional opera début during this time as Nedda in
Leoncavallo's
Pagliacci in
Spokane, Washington, although it wasn't until much later that she would appear in operas frequently. Yeend's first New York appearances were in 1943 as a member of the ensemble in the Broadway run of
The Merry Widow at the
Majestic Theatre with
Jan Kiepura as Danilo and
Marta Eggerth as Sonia. Around this time she also sang on network radio as an uncredited soloist with
Phil Spitalny and His All-Girl Orchestra. In April 1946 Yeend made her first major concert appearance as the
soprano soloist in
Beethoven's
Ninth Symphony with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the direction of
Serge Koussevitzky. The following summer she performed the role of Ellen Orford in the American premiere of
Benjamin Britten's
Peter Grimes at the
Tanglewood Music Festival. Yeend went on to become one of the members of CAM's
Bel Canto Trio with
Mario Lanza and
George London. She toured North America with the group in 1947–1948. She portrayed many other roles with the NYCO over a span of eleven consecutive seasons. Her early parts with the company were from the
lyric soprano repertoire, such as Nedda, Countess Almaviva in
Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, Marguerite in
Gounod's
Faust, Micaela in
Bizet's
Carmen, and the three heroines in
Offenbach's
The Tales of Hoffmann. Later on in her career with the company she began portraying heavier roles from the
dramatic soprano repertoire, including Amelia in
Menotti's
Amelia Goes to the Ball, Eva in
Wagner's
Die Meistersinger, the title role in Verdi's
Aida, the title roles in
Giacomo Puccini's
Tosca and
Turandot among others. She also notably sang Felice in the United States premiere of
Wolf Ferrari's I quattro rusteghi with the NYCO in 1951. Her last appearance with the company was in November 1958 as Mimi in Puccini's
La Bohème. One of the last opera performances of her career was as Desdemona in Verdi's
Otello with the
Philadelphia Grand Opera Company opposite
Mario Del Monaco in the title role in 1964. Yeend retired from the stage in 1966 when she joined the faculty of
West Virginia University as Professor of Voice/Artist in Residence. She remained in that position until 1978 when she retired from teaching. She died thirty years later at the age of 95. She was married for fifty-four years to pianist James Benner who was her second husband. She had one son, Warren Yeend, by her first marriage to Kenneth Yeend which ended in divorce. ==Recordings==