A learned friend of mine from Argentina often teased me about not knowing persons whom he regarded, quite rightly, as world famous. He often said, "You Americans don't know anything about the world." What he meant was that we were not aware of luminaries who were not famous in America. Recently I realized that we are often unaware of world-renowned people in our own country. Case in point: Jerry Hadley. Now this name may not mean anything to most people. I meant nothing to me a year ago, though I had probably seen Mr. Hadley perform on several occasions. Jerry Hadley was an opera singer who also made a huge success in musical comedy. Hadley, who was born in Princeton, Illinois, on June 16, 1952, originally wanted to be a conductor. At his friends' urging, he became a singer and, at 27, made his New York Opera debut as Arturo in Lucia de Lammermoor. Fame quickly followed as he played leading roles in opera houses throughout the world, starred in many albums and was regarded as America's leading tenor. He has also chosen by Leonard Bernstein to sing the title role of the 1989 concert production of Candide. Fortunately it was recorded on video and is available on DVD so you can appreciate his great talent in this production and, of course, on a wide choice of YouTube videos. His final Metropolitan Opera appearance was in the title role of John Harbison's Great Gatsby.What's the point of this post? Probably nothing except to pay a small belated tribute to a great American talent who died July 18, 2007, after eight days of being on life-support from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. What a loss to the world of music.
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