William Warfield
William Caesar Warfield (
22 January 1920 -
26 August 2002), concert
baritone singer, was born in
West Helena, Arkansas. He gave his recital debut in New York's
Town Hall on
March 19,
1950. He was quickly invited by the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation to tour that continent for 35 concerts. In
1952, Warfield performed in
Porgy and Bess during a tour of
Europe sponsored by the
U.S. State Department (he made six separate tours for the US Department of State, more than any other American solo artist.) In this production he played opposite the opera star
Leontyne Price, whom he soon married, but the demands of two separate careers left them little time together. They divorced in
1972, but were featured together in a
1963 studio recording of excerpts from
Porgy and Bess.
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