When Americans first heard Peruvian singer Yma Sumac in the 1950s, she was billed to sell.

Sumac was known as "The Nightingale of the Andes" and "the Peruvian Songbird." And those were more than just nicknames.

Here's proof, from the 1954 Hollywood film "Secret of the Incas," starring Charlton Heston, with songs provided by Ms. Sumac.

Yma Sumac was 86 when she died Saturday at a nursing home in Los Angeles.

Tom Schnabel is host of Café LA at station KCRW in Santa Monica.