Frank Patterson KCHS (5 October 1938 – 10 June 2000) was an internationally renowned Irish tenor following in the tradition of singers such as Count John McCormack and Josef Locke. He was known as "Ireland's Golden Tenor".

Early life

Patterson was born in Clonmel, County Tipperary. As a boy he performed with his local parish choir and was involved in maintaining the annual tradition of singing with the "Wrenboys". He received special encouragement from local connoisseur Tommy O'Brien after a highschool performance as Lazarello in W. V. Wallace's Maritana. He sang in the local St. Mary's Choral Society and at a production of The Pirates of Penzance performed with both his parents. His interests extended beyond music and as a boy he represented Marlfield GAA hurling club, played tennis at Hillview and golf at the Mountain Road course. He quit school at an early stage to work at 'Slater's', the printing business of his mother's family. He also toured with Janine Micheau in Pelléas et Mélisande

He gave an outdoor performance on the steps of the Capitol in Washington with the National Symphony Orchestra before an audience of 60,000. Patterson was equally at home in more intimate settings, such as a concert he gave for Boys Town. and with his family he presented two concerts at the White House, for presidents Ronald Reagan in 1982 and Bill Clinton in 1995.

Rising to greater prominence with the new popularity of "Celtic" music in the 1990s, Patterson saw many of his past recordings reissued for American audiences, and in 1998 he starred in the PBS special Ireland in Song.

Patterson is heard twice in the Coen brothers film Millers Crossing (1990), in which he sings both Danny Boy and Goodnight Sweetheart. In 1996, he appeared as "tenor in restaurant" in Neil Jordan's Michael Collins, singing "Macushla". A recording of him singing the Irish traditional "Dan Tucker" also appeared in Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York (2002).

Religion and social conscience

Patterson was a devout Catholic, and in 1979 sang at the Mass celebrated by Pope John Paul II in Dublin's Phoenix Park before a congregation of almost a million people.

Faith of our Fathers

Patterson was one of various artists (including the Monks of Glenstal Abbey, the RTÉ Philharmonic Choir, and the Dublin Philharmonic Orchestra) to create the Faith of Our Fathers album, which topped the Irish Albums Chart for two months in 1996.

Illness and death

In 1999, he learned he had a brain tumour. He had several operations in the following year and his condition appeared to have stabilised. Cardinal O'Connor, in his personal funeral plan, had requested that Frank Patterson sing Ave Maria at his funeral. Patterson was diagnosed with a recurrence of his illness on 7 May 2000 and he cancelled his appearance at the cardinal's funeral on the following morning, 8 May. Following the cardinals's funeral, Patterson briefly recuperated and resumed performing. Patterson's last performance was on 4 June 2000 at Regis College in Weston, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. Shortly thereafter he was admitted to the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center where he lapsed into a coma and died at the age of 61.

At his death accolades and tributes came from, among others, President of Ireland Mary McAleese, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Opposition leader John Bruton who said he had "the purest voice of his generation". In September 2008, Watts personally presented to the Irish consulate in New York City, a plaque that honoured Frank Patterson's contribution to Tribute in Song. It was intended that the plaque would be returned to Patterson's native Clonmel.

A bronze life-size piece by sculptor Jerry McKenna from Texas, titled "The Golden Tenor Statue", was unveiled to his memory in Mick Delahunty Square, Clonmel, in June 2002.

References

Sources

  • "It was said the whole world seemed still when he sang" (obituary), in The Irish Times, 17 June 2000.
  • Documented recitals in Ireland by Patterson from Arts and Humanities Research Council (hosted by Cardiff University and the Royal College of Music).