Morgan Kingston - An Evening Song (1913)

Morgan Kingston

"An Evening Song"

Columbia A5495

1913

Words by Mrs. F. A. Butler

Music by J. Blumenthal

The singer was born Alfred Webster Kingston on March 16, 1875, in Staffordshire, England.

He grew up in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire. At age 10, he followed his father down the pit at Hucknall Colliery. He was the third son of a miner--this was also true of D. H. Lawrence. I mention Lawrence since both men left their Nottinghamshire mining community in England to thrive as artists on an international stage.

Many in Kingston's mining community urged the young man to develop his singing talents.

Alfred Kingston made his professional singing debut at Queens Hall, London, in 1909. At some point the name "Morgan" became part of his professional name (I read that this was done to give the singer more of a Welsh name--and the Welsh were known for their singing).
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By 1913 he was making records and traveling widely. In that year the tenor sang at the White House for President Wilson.

He had a successful career with New York's Metropolitan Opera Company. He made his debut with the Met in Il Trovatore on December 1, 1917. He sang for the Met for several years. In 1923 he sang as Radames in Aida (with Frances Peralta as Aida).

Late in her life, Rosa Ponselle was asked about the tenor: "The only thing I'll say about Kingston is that he was the Kurt Baum of his day. You know--strutting around the stage like a rooster, crowing out high C's, things like that." This is in James A. Drake's book titled Rosa Ponselle: A Centenary Biography (1997, Amadeus Press).

Alfred Morgan Kingston died in 1936 at the age of 62.

He is buried at St Giles Churchyard, Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire.