John MacCormack - The Count Of Song

For over forty years, John Francis "Count" McCormack was one of the greatest singers in the world.

Born in 1884 he was still in his teens when he won a gold medal as a tenor in Ireland's National Music Festival. On the strength of that, he went to Italy to study under the great Italian singer and teacher Sabatini.

In 1907, he made his debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, England - the youngest principle tenor ever to sing there. Within three years he had launched his international singing career by singing in the United States of America.

In 1919, he became a citizen of the USA, where his concert career lasted nearly forty years.

In 1938, he retired to England, but -- a year later, with World War II looming --  he was back singing in support of the war effort. Failing health forced him to retire again in 1943 -- but not before he had raised substantial sums for the war effort.

During this period he advised the then up and coming young tenor Josef Locke. McCormack died in 1945, having effectively passed the baton of the greatest Irish tenor to Josef Locke, who took it up and ran with it for a further sixty years.

Copyright 2007 Joseph Donegal and www.The-Best-Of-Ireland.com