Another Irish Songster….
In the previous posting about ‘Maggie from Mayo’, I wrote about my astonishment at discovering her story. To day’s offering is different as I grew up listening to this Tenor on old 78 records and on Irish radio. I give you Count John McCormack.
The ‘Count’ is a little false but he insisted on using it having been awarded the title from Pope Pius X1 for his services to Charity. His favourite being ‘The Red Cross’.
John Francis McCormack was born in the town of Athlone, County Westmeath on 14th June 1884. He was number four of eleven children. His parents worked in the local woollen mills. It was during his secondary education that his talent for singing began to show. In 1903 he entered the National Feis Ceoil in Dublin and won the prestigious Gold Medal.
Fearing parental objections, he quietly married Lily Foley in 1906. Notwithstanding his future fame and fortune he was totally faithful to her all his life. They had two children.
Having won the Gold Medal in Dublin, fundraising in his native hometown and indeed all over Ireland enabled him to continue his training in Italy. He became a student of Sabbatini. In 1906, he made his operatic debut in Savona. The following year he made his English debut in Convent Garden London in Cavalleria Rusticana. He was its youngest ever principal tenor.
America beckoned and in 1909 he went there and won over the crowds. He was an instant success. In the early stages of his career he was classed as an ‘Italian Tenor’ but he soon realised that his could use his Irishness to his advantage. He also carried on singing Irish traditional ballads. One season he performed 95 concerts across the country. He was earning as much a five-million dollars a season and when Enrico Caruso heard this, he good-humouredly warned him never to let it happen again.
Two years later he signed a contract with the great Nellie Melba and toured Australia to great success. He was aged 27 and at his height. He returned for concert tours for many years after.
He began to spend more and more time on the concert stage where his singing along with his Irish charm ensured that all his performances were fully sold out. He was the greatest lyric tenor of his day. He continued to sing less and less operatic rolls and retired from that branch of music in 1923.
Voice recordings were becoming the rage and he made numerous. He also regularly broadcast on radio. Soon sound films beckoned. His recording of ‘It’s a Long Way to Tipperary’ in 1914 became a massive hit and became the signature tune of most soldiers of all nationalities during the First World War. However, he had strong Irish Nationalistic feelings and many of his recordings endorsed his view.
In 1917 he became a naturalised United States citizen but held dual Irish/US nationality. This caused problems with the British for several years.
During the 1920’s McCormack was still riding the crest of the wave of fame. He could do nothing wrong and was treated as a star wherever he went. In 1927, he moved into Moor Abbey, Monasterevan, County Kildare where he lived a life according to his means. He loved fine wines and Champagne and everything else to do with the high life. He bought several Rolls Royce’s and began to buy and gamble on horses. He lost an absolute fortune trying to win the English Derby. He never managed it.
In 1930 when in Hollywood making and starring in the film, ‘Song O’ My Heart’ he saw the Carman Runyon estate. He fell madly in love with it and used his earning from the film, believed to have been in the region of $300,000 to purchase it. He built a mansion which he called ‘San Patrizio’ – Saint Patrick. He and his wife lived there for the next eight years. Whenever he was away from the estate, he would rent it out to one of the current stars of films. Janet Gaynor and Charles Boyer were always first choices. Will Rogers, John Barrymore, Basil Rathbone and many other stars of the day were their friends and guests at the estate.
He left America in 1937 and never returned due to the Second World War.
In 1938, McCormack ended his career at the Royal Albert Hall in London. He was ill with, of all things, emphysema, a serious lung complaint. For someone who had been famous for his breath control and being able to sing 64 notes on a single breath this must have been heartbreaking.
He purchased a seaside home outside Dublin but died on 16th September 1945.
Just like ‘Maggie from Mayo’, the bold John also carved himself a niche in singing history and an all-time favourite to this day back home in Ireland.
There are many recordings of him on Youtube but I chose the following for
it’s old pictorial views of Kerry and the song – ‘Killarney’..
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