Robert McFerrin

Robert Keith McFerrin Sr. (March 19, 1921 – November 24, 2006) was an American operatic baritone born in Marianna, Arkansas, who became the first African-American man to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. He appeared on Broadway between 1949 and 1951, and his career spanned opera, film, and teaching across several decades. He was the father of Grammy Award-winning vocalist Bobby McFerrin.

McFerrin demonstrated vocal ability from childhood, singing as a boy soprano in a gospel choir at his local church. As a teenager, he formed a trio with two siblings, and the group traveled with their father, a reverend, to regional preaching engagements, performing gospel songs, hymns, and spirituals. After completing eighth grade in Memphis, he relocated to St. Louis to live with relatives and attend Sumner High School, where choir director Wirt Walton recognized his talent, began giving him private instruction, and organized a vocal recital to help him raise funds for college. McFerrin graduated in 1940 and enrolled at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. He subsequently won a scholarship to Chicago Musical College, though his studies were interrupted by service in the U.S. Army during World War II. Following his discharge as a technician fifth grade, he returned to Chicago Musical College and earned his degree in 1948.

After moving to New York City in 1948, McFerrin studied under composer and choir director Hall Johnson. In 1949 he appeared in a small role in Lost in the Stars, the Kurt Weill Broadway musical, which brought him into contact with conductor Boris Goldovsky. That same year, Goldovsky presented McFerrin in the title role of Rigoletto at the Tanglewood Music Festival and cast him in the New England Opera Theater as Valentin in Faust and in Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride. Also in 1949, McFerrin sang Amonasro in Aida with the National Negro Opera Company and made his New York City Opera debut as Popaloi, a voodoo doctor, in the premiere of William Grant Still's opera Troubled Island. He married Sara Copper, a fellow singer, that same year; the couple had two children, Robert Jr. (Bobby) and Brenda.

McFerrin continued to move between opera and Broadway in the years that followed. In 1950 he sang the title role in Rigoletto with the New England Opera. In 1951 he performed on Broadway in a revival of The Green Pastures. The following year he appeared in My Darlin' Aida, a version of Verdi's opera reset in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1861, and returned to the National Negro Opera Company to sing Valentin in Faust.

In 1953 McFerrin won the Metropolitan Opera's Auditions of the Air, becoming the first African-American to do so. Despite the customary practice of awarding winners a six-month training period and a performance contract, McFerrin received thirteen months of training but no contract. His Met debut came on January 27, 1955, making him the first Black man to sing on the Metropolitan Opera stage. His debut role was Amonasro in Aida, and over three years at the Met he sang that role seven times, performed once as Valentin in Faust, and appeared twice in the title role of Rigoletto. With his 1956 Rigoletto at the Met, he became the first African-American to sing a title role there. That same year he also performed Rigoletto at the San Carlo Opera in Naples, achieving a comparable distinction at that institution. He was additionally the first African-American to have sung at both the Metropolitan Opera and the New York City Opera.

In 1958 McFerrin left the Metropolitan Opera and traveled to California to work on Otto Preminger's film adaptation of George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. Sidney Poitier was cast as Porgy onscreen, with McFerrin providing the character's singing voice. When the film was released in 1959, the New York Times described McFerrin's singing as sensitive and strong. The soundtrack was released as an LP. McFerrin and his wife established a vocal studio in Los Angeles, and he subsequently accepted a teaching position at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki in 1959 before later joining the faculty at Sacramento State College. His marriage to Sara Copper ended in divorce during the California years; McFerrin credited her with supporting the family during the early stages of his career and with serving as his piano accompanist. After the divorce, Sara McFerrin became a music professor at Fullerton College in Fullerton, California, where she chaired the music and voice departments from 1973 to 1993.

After approximately fifteen years in California, McFerrin relocated to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1973, the city where he had attended high school, and it remained his primary residence for the rest of his life. He accepted an appointment as Artist-in-Residence at the St. Louis Institute of Music Conservatory, where he both performed and taught. His children Bobby and Brenda both became professional singers, though neither pursued classical music. Bobby McFerrin became a singer, conductor, and composer who won Grammy Awards, while Brenda pursued a career as a Motown recording artist. In 1987 the three performed together at a benefit concert for the McFerrin Endowment for Minority Artist at the Sheldon Concert Hall. That same year, McFerrin received an honorary doctorate from Stowe Teacher's College in St. Louis, followed by a second honorary doctorate from the University of Missouri–St. Louis in 1989. McFerrin sustained a stroke in 1989 that affected his speech, though he retained the ability to sing. In 1993 he appeared with the St. Louis Symphony, with Bobby conducting and McFerrin performing. He married his second wife, Athena Bush, in 1995. Robert McFerrin Sr. died on November 24, 2006.