James Melton

Biography

James Melton was a popular singer, a Met lyric tenor, a recording artist for Victor and Columbia records and a producer and actor. He was raised in Citra, Florida, where he worked on a farm raising pigs and loading watermelons. He made his first public appearance as soloist in a local choir. A high school teacher noticed his talents and encouraged him to further his vocal studies, so he studied at and graduated from Nashville's Ward-Belmont Conservatory. At the University of Florida, where he matriculated with the idea of studying law, Melton found a place in the college band playing saxophone and singing in the college glee club. Two years later he changed to Vanderbilt University in Nashville in order to study under Gaetano de Luca. He continued his studies at Florida State and Georgia State universities and at Vanderbilt University, and privately with Michael Raucheisen in Berlin, Germany. Coming to New York in 1927, he became part of NBC's "Roxy's Gang", singing at the Roxy Theatre during musical prologues. He also appeared on The Bell Telephone Hour (1959) and other shows. Between 1927 and 1933 he sang with the Revelers vocal quartet as first tenor on radio and in concert tours across America and Europe. His stage debut was made at the Town Hall in New York. By 1934 he became a solo performer and began to appear on radio; he accompanied George Gershwin on a national tour, and was signed to a three-picture Warner Bros. film contract. When that was completed he studied in New York under vocal coach Angelo Canarutto prior to debuting with the Cincinnati Zoo Opera as "Pinkerton" in "Mme. Butterfly" in 1938, a role he continued for years in Cincinnati, Chicago and San Carlo (where he also did the roles of "Alfredo" and Massenet's "Des Grieux"). He was a member of the Chicago Civic Opera Company. Finally, on December 7, 1942, he made his Metropolitan Opera debut as "Tamino". Throughout the 1940s he was a leading tenor at the Met, appearing in 83 performances of seven operas, including "Don Giovanni", "Lucia di Lammermoor", "Mme. Butterfly", "Manon", "La Traviata" and "Mignon". At this time he was also featured on a weekly radio series and had a recording contract with RCA Red Seal, and was very active in wartime bond rallies, military hospital tours and benefit concerts. For MGM, he appeared with Marion Bell in Ziegfeld Follies (1945), though most of his onscreen footage was cut. His Met career ended during a regime change when Rudolf Bing took over, but he began to appear on television, hosting his own musical series for one season in the 1950s and appearing on other programs while taking nightclub bookings and producing a revue that toured the East Coast for seven weeks, and later, a production of "The Student Prince". He also founded Autorama, an antique-automobile museum in Florida which largely featured his own collection of rare brass-era cars.