Roland Hayes - Biography and Career

Biography and Career

Hayes was born in Curryville, Georgia, near Calhoun, on June 3, 1887, to Fanny and William Hayes, who were former slaves. When Hayes was eleven his father died, and his mother moved the family to Chattanooga, Tennessee. William Hayes claimed to have some Cherokee ancestry, while his maternal great-grandfather, Aba Ougi (also known as Charles) was a chieftain from Côte d'Ivoire. Aba Ougi was captured and shipped to America in 1790. Hayes was a singer trained with Arthur Calhoun in Chattanooga as well as at Fisk University in Nashville. As a student he began publicly performing, touring with the Fisk Jubilee Singers in 1911. He furthered his studies in Boston with Arthur Hubbard. During his period studying with Hubbard he was a messenger at the Hancock Life Insurance Company to support himself. Then in London he studied with George Henschel and Amanda Ira Aldridge.

He began with arranging his own recitals and coast-to-coast tours from 1916–1919. He sang at Craig's Pre-Lenten Recitals and several Carnegie Hall concerts. He performed with the Philadelphia Concert Orchestra, and at the Atlanta Colored Music Festivals and at the Washington Conservatory concerts. In 1917, he toured with the Hayes Trio which he formed with baritone William Richardson and pianist William Lawrence who was his regular accompanist. His London debut was in April 1920 at Aeolian Hall with pianist Lawrence Brown as his accompanist. Soon Hayes was singing in capital cities across Europe and was quite famous when he returned to the United States in 1923. He made his official debut on 16 November 1923 in Boston's Symphony Hall singing Berlioz, Mozart and spirituals, conducted by Pierre Monteux, which received critical acclaim. He was the first African-American soloist to appear with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He was awarded the Spingarn Medal in 1924.

Hayes finally secured professional management with the Boston Symphony Orchestra Concert Company. He was reportedly making $100,000 a year at this point in his career. In Boston he also worked as a voice teacher. One of his pupils was the Canadian soprano Frances James. He published a collection of spirituals in 1948 as My Songs; Aframerican Religious Folk Songs Arranged and Interpreted.

Hayes is a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.

He and his wife Helen Alzada Mann had a daughter, Afrika, in 1933.

After Hayes' wife and daughter were thrown out of a Rome, Georgia shoe store for sitting in the white-only section, Hayes confronted the store owner. The police then arrested both Hayes, whom they beat, and his wife. Hayes and his family eventually left Georgia.

He taught at Black Mountain College for the 1945 Summer institute where his public concert was, according to Martin Duberman, "one of the great moments in Black Mountain's history (215)."