Jules Bledsoe

Jules Bledsoe (1897–1943) was an American baritone and one of the first African-American artists to gain regular employment on Broadway.

Jules Bledsoe was born Julius Lorenzo Cobb Bledsoe to Henry L. and Jessie Cobb Bledsoe in Waco, Texas in 1897. When Bledsoe's parents split in 1899, Julius went with his mother to live with the Cobb family. During his youth Bledsoe attended Central Texas Academy from 1905 to 1914. After graduating as valedictorian he studied at Bishop College where he earned his B.A. in 1918. He then attended Virginia Union College from 1918 to 1919, where he was a member of ROTC, and finally Columbia University, where he studied medicine from 1920 to 1924. Throughout his time in school, he studied music under Claude Warford, Luigi Parisotti, and Lazar Samoiloff.

Bledsoe made his professional singing debut in New York's Aeolian Hall on April 20, 1924 with the sponsorship of impresario Sol Hurok. Over the course of his career he traveled throughout the United States and Europe performing, acting, and writing.

Bledsoe performed in many major operas and was in high demand due to his ability to sing in multiple languages as well as his impressive vocal range. In 1926 he appeared as Tizan in Frank Harling's opera Deep River, and he was the first to perform as Joe in Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's Show Boat in 1927. His role in Show Boat became his best known role, and he popularized "Ol' Man River", a song from the musical.

In the Chicago Opera’s production of Verdi's Aida, Bledsoe sang the role of Amonasro. In 1930, Bledsoe attempted to create an original musical setting of Eugene O'Neill's The Emperor Jones, but he lacked the permission of the playwright which was already secured by composer Louis Gruenberg. Though the honor went to Lawrence Tibbett to originate the title role in 1933, Bledsoe played the character in a production in Amsterdam in 1934, and later in Paris, Vienna, Brussels and London, and still later in New York City. Bledsoe also performed the title character in Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov.

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