Holland, Charles
Holland, Charles
Holland, Charles, black American tenor; b. Norfolk, Va., Dec. 27, 1909; d. Amsterdam, Nov. 7, 1987. He studied with May Hamaker Henley, Georges Le Pyre in Los Angeles, and Clyde Burrows in N.Y. He sang with the bands of Benny Carter and Fletcher Henderson, appeared in the film Hullabaloo (1941), and had his own concert program on NBC radio. In 1949 he settled in France, where he appeared on radio and television; made his European operatic debut in Die Zauberflöte at the Paris Opéra in 1954, and in 1955 he became the first black artist to sing at the Paris Opéra-Comique. He later sang throughout Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, making his N.Y. debut in a recital at Carnegie Hall in 1982.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire