Wallace King was an

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

blackface Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used predominantly by non-Black people to portray a caricature of a Black person. In the United States, the practice became common during the 19th century and contributed to the spread of racial stereo ...

minstrel A minstrel was an entertainer, initially in medieval Europe. It originally described any type of entertainer such as a musician, juggler, acrobat, singer or fool; later, from the sixteenth century, it came to mean a specialist entertainer who ...

performer from the 19th century. He played with Callender's Georgia Minstrels, and in 1882 was second to only

Billy Kersands Billy Kersands (c. 1842 in Baton Rouge, Louisianaa – 30 June 1915 in Artesia, New Mexico) was an African-American comedian and dancer. He was the most popular black comedian of his day, best known for his work in blackface minstrelsy. In addit ...

in pay and popularity. King was a "Sweet Singing Tenor" and known for his emotional, romantic

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

s. King came to London, England, in 1881 with Haverly’s Coloured Minstrels. He was described as “a gentleman with a very dark complexion and a long black beard to match”. The public loved the sentimental songs he sang in his powerful tenor. This troupe toured Britain, then went back to America in 1882. King returned to Britain in April 1884 with a company made up from the amalgamation of Haverly’s company and another called Callender’s Coloured Minstrels which toured Britain until August 1885. He was popular enough to have a (rather successful) racehorse named after him. His colour was very rarely mentioned in the British press and subsequently in newspapers in Australia and New Zealand. By 1895 he was in Australia, where he spent six years as the ‘favourite tenor’ at the Tivoli Theatre in Sydney. He went to New Zealand in 1901 and in May was appearing in Christchurch where he was simply billed as ‘The World-famed Silver Tenor Vocalist of the Minstrel Stage’. He appeared with the Dix Company in New Zealand at least until December 1902 when he returned to America. He died a few months later in 1903 in Oaklands, California.

Notes

References

*Toll, Robert C. (1974). ''Blacking Up: The Minstrel Show in Nineteenth-century America''. New York: Oxford University Press. Year of death missing Year of birth missing 19th-century African-American male singers 19th-century American male singers American tenors Blackface minstrel performers {{US-theatre-stub