Margaret Price was born in Wales and studied at Trinity College of Music in London. She made her debut with the Welsh National Opera as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, a role she repeated at Covent Garden the following year when she replaced the indisposed Teresa Berganza at short notice.

She was established at the major opera houses throughout the world and was renowned as a concert soloist, having worked with some of the most distinguished conductors of our time and wass equally well-known as a recitalist and acclaimed for her wide-ranging repertoire. Her many recordings include Strauss songs with Wolfgang Sawallisch, Liszt songs with Cyprien Katsaris, and Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn and Brahms with Graham Johnson for Hyperion. Highlights of her operatic discography include Cosi fan tutte conducted by Otto Klemperer, Tristan und Isolde conducted by Carlos Kleiber, Die Zauberflöte conducted by Sir Colin Davis, Le nozze di Figaro conducted by Riccardo Muti and Un ballo in Maschera conducted by Sir Georg Solti.

Margaret Price was a Bayerische Kammersängerin and was awarded a CBE in 1982. In 1993 she received the order of Dame of the British Empire.