He was a bass singer born Charles Harry Hamilton in Macon, Georgia, who obtained a mechanical engineering degree from Georgia Institute of Technology. He went into the military following his graduation and after having done a 6-month active stint with the US Ordinance Corps he went into the reserves. By the time he left his service he had become a Captain. He decided to take further studies and earned himself a medical degree at Emory University School of Medicine. Within 7 years he was an internal medical doctor and a Director of Medical Services at a local hospital.
Music was in his blood though and as a talented bass singer he became part of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus under the leadership of Robert Shaw. Chosen by Robert Shaw to be his family’s doctor and to appear in several of his ensembles he sang with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chamber Chorus, the Robert Shaw Chamber Singers and the Robert Shaw Festival Singers who recorded with in France.
In 1976 he became an original member of The Atlanta Singers in 1976 with some of his fellow singers from the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus and Robert Shaw Chorale as members. He died in 2007 aged 73 having suffered from cancer.
Robert Shaw Chamber Singers recordings
Angels We Have Heard on High (Traditional French/James Chadwick/Edward Shippen Barnes )
Telarc 80377 (CD: Songs of Angels: Christmas Hymns & Carols)
Conductor – Robert Shaw
Here’s the Robert Shaw Chamber Singers performing “The Boar’s Head Carol” …
Sources:
- http://www.legacy.com/macon/DeathNotices.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonID=98739676
- http://www.usc.edu/libraries/archives/schoenberg/as_disco/names/groups/robertsh.htm
- http://www.atlantasingers.org/history.html
- http://www.answers.com/topic/songs-of-angels-christmas-hymn