Jan Kiepura, who was often jokingly called "a boy from Sosnowiec" (Polish: "chłopak z Sosnowca"), was one of the most popular Polish artists of the interwar period. He concerted in many opera houses and concert halls in Europe and in the world, including Vienna's Staatsoper, London's Royal Albert Hall, Milan's La Scala or New York's Metropolitan Opera. His musical shows were always received with huge enthusiasm.
Kiepura played also in many musicals and music films. He often concerted with his wife, a Hungarian-born lyric soprano Marta Eggerth.
He died in 1966 of heart attack in New York, where he lived in the last years of his life, and was buried in the Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw.
The monument to Kiepura in the city center of Sosnowiec is made of bronze according to a design of Tadeusz Markiewicz and Gabriel Karwowski. It is about 3 meters high and is set on a 1,4-meter-high granite base. It presents the great artist in his characteristic pose - as a singer wearing an elegant hat and a coat blowing in the wind (sometimes Kiepura gave unofficial performances in the open air for his admirers).
The inscription on the base says about him: "A Sosnowiec inhabitant in his heart, a citizen of the world by his voice".