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Year of birth: 1887

City of birth: Curryville, Ga.

Tenor Roland Hayes, born in Curryville, Ga., in 1887 to former slaves, was the principal African American tenor performing classical music during the first half of the twentieth century. Acclaimed for his masterful interpretations of the great European repertory, Hayes was also the first solo artist to incorporate African American spirituals into his concert programs. One of the highest paid musicians of his time, Hayes broke the color barrier in classical music and paved the way for artists such as Marian Anderson, Paul Robeson and Leontyne Price.

One of six children born to Fanny and William Hayes, Roland Hayes grew up singing spirituals that had been handed down for generations. When he was 11 years old, his father died and he and his brother, Robert, were forced to quit school in order to work and support the family. In 1900, the Hayes family moved to Chattanooga, Tenn., where Roland worked in an iron foundry and sang in church. At 16, when he had been promoted to foreman at the factory, Hayes began studying school subjects part-time and taking singing lessons with an Oberlin University music teacher who introduced him to classical music.

In 1905, Hayes moved to Nashville, Tenn., to attend Fisk University as a preparatory student. He worked as a servant to support himself while attending school. After three years, he left Fisk to move to Louisville, Ky., to sing in men’s clubs and a silent movie theatre. In 19911, the president of Fisk University contacted him and asked him to perform as the lead tenor for the Fisk Jubilee Singers’ upcoming tour in Boston. Hayes participated in the tour, but elected to stay in Boston when it was over.

While in Boston, Hayes worked several jobs and studied with operatic bass Arthur Hubbard. With no American manager willing to sponsor a performance by a black classical singer, Hayes saved his money and produced his own first concert in 1915 to little fanfare. For the next five years, he arranged his own tours of the United States with minimal success in a country where with racial discrimination was so prevalent.

In 1920, Hayes set sail for London, England, were he continued to study voice and struggled to arrange performance engagements. A year after arriving, Hayes and his accompanist, Lawrence Brown, were finally booked at the prestigious Wigmore Hall. Although Hayes was suffering from pneumonia, his performance was lauded and two days later, he gave a command performance for King George V and Queen Mary.

When he returned to the states in 1922, Hayes began to receive the recognition he deserved. He began touring regularly throughout the United States, appearing with major orchestras in Boston, Philadelphia and Detroit, and he was first African American singer invited to appear at Carnegie Hall in New York. In 1925, he gave a command performance for Queen Mother Maria Christian. He continued to appear in concert all over the world to rave reviews until his 75th birthday in 1962, when he gave his farewell concert at Carnegie Hall to benefit historically black colleges and universities.

In a 1947 Christian Science Monitor interview, Hayes said, "When I began my career, I realized that if I would speak to all men, I must learn the language and the ways of thought of all men. What good could I do if I knew only my own ways and the thoughts of my own people? So I learned to sing the songs of all people.... The song I sing is nothing. But what I give through the song is everything. I cannot put into words what I try to do with this instrument that is nearest to me--my voice. If I were to frame it in words, I would lose some of the ability to make it effective."

Roland Hayes died on Jan. 1, 1977, in Boston and is buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in Dorchester, Mass. In 1990, the Smithsonian Institution issued The Art of Roland Hayes, an audio recording of various performances by Hayes from 1939 to 1965. In 2000, the Roland Hayes Museum opened in the Harris Arts Center in Calhoun, Ga., where concerts are held annual in the singer’s honor. There is also is a historical marker in Calhoun in the Roland Hayes Park, located adjacent to the Calhoun Civic Auditorium now known as State Highway 156 West in Calhoun is named the Roland Hayes Parkway.

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