Roland Hayes The Legacy of an American Tenor [Hardcover]

Performing in a country rife with racism and segregation, the tenor Roland Hayes was the first African American man to reach international fame as a concert performer and one of the few artists who could sell out Town Hall, Carnegie Hall, Symphony Hall, and Covent Garden. His trailblazing career carved the way for a host of African American artists, including Marian Anderson and Paul Robeson. Performing the African American spirituals he was raised on, Hayes's voice was marked with a unique sonority which easily navigated French, German, and Italian art songs. A multiculturalist both on and off the stage, he counted among his friends George Washington Carver, Eleanor Roosevelt, Ezra Pound, Pearl Buck, Dwight Eisenhower, and Langston Hughes. This engaging biography spans the history of Hayes's life and career and the legacy he left behind as a musician and a champion of African American rights. It is an authentic, panoramic portrait of a man who was as complex as the music he performed.

Like many?generations of celebrated African American concert artists, I am?an inheritor?of the legacy?left?by the great Roland Hayes. Yet, we hardly know?his name today. With this long overdue?book, the oversight is now remedied.Offers a gripping, sensitive, and balanced story of this historical icon and musician.

Christopher A. Brooks is Professor of Anthropology at Virginia Commonwealth University. He is author (with Shirley Verrett) of I Never Walked Alone: The Autobiography of an American Singer and several other publications.

Robert Sims is Professor of Voice in the School of Music at Northern Illinois University.

Like many, I was familiar with the name Roland Hayes and his recordings, but thought of him as a historical figure belonging to a bygone era. The book, however, has dramatically expanded my knowledge of this man and his art. This incredibly well-researched book (with impeccable notes) brings to light the complexities of the periods in which Roland Hayesl��