For some, he is the finest lyric tenor ever produced by the US. Rosa Ponselle rated him as the best tenor of his time, ahead even of Beniamino Gigli. He has been likened to John McCormack by some, to Mario Lanza by others. For me, he combines the merits of both. Like McCormack, he was noted not only for the beauty of his voice and the elegance of his singing, but for his exceptional breath control and diction, and he began his career in the opera house before becoming a recitalist; both men became huge radio stars in the 1930s and performed everything from opera arias and sacred songs to ballads and popular music. As in the case of Lanza, who was US-born a generation later (1921), Crooks’s early operatic career was eclipsed by his very celebrity, leading to him being underrated in some critical circles. Listen to Crooks’s and Lanza’s (better-known) recordings and you will hear the same fervent delivery and heroic top notes.

Crooks was born on June 26, 1900, in Trenton, NJ, to a Scottish father and an English mother. My own estimation of him as a singer is coloured by childhood association. Somehow (I was going to say ‘by hook or by crook’), two of his discs found their way into my parents’ limited collection: Jesus Christ Is Risen Today and The Holy City, two ‘religious’ songs that reflected his early days as an aspiring choirboy and church soloist. The great Easter hymn is notable for his delivery of the penultimate line of the last verse (‘Now above the sky He’s king’), the last two words delivered molto ritenuto with a held, virile top G for ‘king’. It sent a thrill down my young spine. It still does. So does the final line: ‘Where the angels ever sing, alleluia!’ Has anyone ever sung ‘angels’ and that final word with such radiant joy? Herbert Dawson was the organist for this and for The Holy City, the famous old Stephen Adams song (lyrics by Frederic Weatherly), recorded in 1932 with an orchestra conducted by John Barbirolli. The sincerity and ardour Crooks brings to the text and its uplifting vocal climax make it a classic of the gramophone.

Indeed, there are few tenors who can match him in this now sadly unfashionable repertoire. The Star of Bethlehem and Nirvana, two more Adams and Weatherly hits (the former again with Dawson and Barbirolli), are no less effective; Macushla, Because (later a hit for Lanza) and For You Alone (also recorded by Enrico Caruso, Jussi Björling and Richard Tauber) are other standout Crooks discs from his lighter repertoire. If you can overlook the somewhat weedy reed organ, ‘King ever glorious’ from Stainer’s oratorio The Crucifixion is delivered with the same passion: ‘glorious’ is glorious indeed, the ‘r’ in ‘ever’ rolled à la McCormack.

Among other songs you will never hear in today’s concert halls are those by Stephen Foster, 10 of which Crooks recorded in 1937, some of his finest work: I dream of Jeanie with the light brown hair, for instance, a match for Björling’s account; Beautiful dreamer; and, perhaps best of all, Ah! May the red rose live always.

Most of these songs were accompanied on the piano by Frank La Forge, with whom Crooks studied singing in New York. Prior to these studies, ‘Master Alexander Crooks’ (as he was born) had already built up a reputation as a boy soloist in and around his home town of Trenton. It was during a performance in July 1913 of Elijah at the Great Auditorium, Ocean Grove, NJ, that the celebrated contralto Ernestine Schumann-Heink heard him sing. So impressed was she, that she hurried over and gave the boy a kiss in front of the audience. With her encouragement, Crooks decided on singing as a career.

For most of the 1920s, Crooks was busy as a recitalist and performer in oratorios and operas in both the US and Europe. He was signed as an exclusive Victor HMV recording artist in 1923, and between 1924 and 1946, a total of 174 sides were issued, plus six sides under the auspices of the US War Department for the purpose of the armed forces’ entertainment. During the 1930s, he was a major star of the Metropolitan Opera, New York, specialising in French and Italian works. He appeared there 55 times, in Manon, Mignon, La traviata, Linda di Chamounix, Faust, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, Don Giovanni and Roméo et Juliet. He was, it is said, ‘an indifferent actor’, who from his photographs ‘gave the impression of a friendly insurance salesman’.

What made him a household name, however, was being the resident singer and host during the 1930s until 1945 on the coast-to-coast radio show The Voice of Firestone,on which he sang a broad range of repertoire including operatic arias, oratorio numbers, patriotic songs, folk songs and popular hits from musicals.

After a recital in March 1945, he collapsed and was rushed to hospital with peritonitis. Subsequent operations left him with a weakened diaphragm. That, together with a degenerative throat condition (he cracked on a top note during a radio broadcast), persuaded him to announce his retirement. He relocated to California, where he and his wife lived close to their two children until his death in 1972 after a long battle with cancer. Crooks was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but it has vanished. Was it removed? Was it ever installed? No one seems to know – but it should certainly be reinstated.

Essential listening

Richard Crooks Opera Arias and Songs

Richard Crooks ten Frank La Forge pf Frederick Schauwecker pf Berlin State Opera Orchestra / Clemens Schmalstich et al

Delos

This superb collection illustrates Crooks’s range and versatility – in opera (Lohengrin, Carmen, L’elisir d’amore), operetta, Bach, Mendelssohn, Die schöne Müllerin (complete), songs by Grieg, Quilter, Richard Strauss, Orlando Morgan (Clorinda), Edward Purcell (Passing By) – both delightful – and Arne (‘Preach me not your musty rules’ – Comus). On two songs by Foster he duets with Bing Crosby (an acquired taste). There are also privately recorded tracks from the late 1960s when his voice was still in good condition despite his poor health.

This article originally appeared in the October 2024 issue of Gramophone magazine. Never miss an issue – subscribe to Gramophone today