The much-loved Irish tenor John McCormack had two careers. He was both a widely popular interpreter of Irish ballads and an operatic tenor who specialised in Mozart and the Italian repertory.
McCormack was born in Athlone, Republic of Ireland, on . He was one of 11 children, only five of whom survived to become adults. At the age of 12, he won a scholarship to study at Summerhill College, Sligo, a Jesuit institution, but at 18 he decided to...