Robert McFerrin

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Robert McFerrin Senior
Robert McFerrin Senior

Robert McFerrin Sr. (March 19, 1921 – 24 November 2006) was an American opera singer who was the first African American male to sing at the New York Metropolitan Opera. He is also father of the Grammy Award-winning conductor-vocalist Bobby McFerrin.

Born in Marianna, Arkansas, he moved to St. Louis, Missouri in 1936, where he attended Sumner High School.[1] He was soon singing on Broadway, performing with the National Negro Opera Company, and eventually with the New York City Opera Company.

McFerrin provided the vocals for Sidney Poitier in the 1959 film Porgy and Bess. He returned to St. Louis in 1973. A severe stroke in 1989 impaired his speech but did not take his voice.

He died of a heart attack in suburban St. Louis, aged 85.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Robert McFerrin Sr. (1921–2006), Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture. Accessed December 12, 2007. "His father arranged for him to attend Sumner High School in St. Louis, Missouri. McFerrin intended to become an English teacher but changed his career plans after he joined the high school choir and received his first formal music instruction under chorus director Wirt Walton."

[edit] Sources

  • Associated Press (November 28, 2006). Robert McFerrin Sr., 85, Operatic Baritone at Met, Dies.

[edit] External links


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