Dr. Walter Turnbull (19 July 1944 in

Greenville, Mississippi Greenville is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 34,400 at the 2010 census. It is located in the area of historic cotton plantations and culture known as the Mississippi Delta. Hi ...

– 23 March 2007) was an American musician and the founder of the

Boys Choir of Harlem The Boys Choir of Harlem (also known as the Harlem Boys Choir) was a choir located in Harlem, New York City, United States. Its final performance was in 2007 and the group folded shortly thereafter due to several controversies, including a ...

. Turnbull graduated from

Tougaloo College Tougaloo College is a private historically black college in the Tougaloo area of Jackson, Mississippi. It is affiliated with the United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). It was originally established in 1869 by New Yo ...

where he studied

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

and vocal performance. He moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 1968, and in addition to continuing his education at the

Manhattan School of Music The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is a private music conservatory in New York City. The school offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition, as well as a bachelor's in mu ...

started to perform as a tenor with the

New York Philharmonic The New York Philharmonic, officially the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc., globally known as New York Philharmonic Orchestra (NYPO) or New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, is a symphony orchestra based in New York City. It is ...

. He also began teaching music at a

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

church upon his arrival in New York. This church group eventually turned into a popular city choir and then eventually the internationally renowned Boys Choir of Harlem. In 1999, he was awarded the 5th Annual

Heinz Award The Heinz Awards are individual achievement honors given annually by the Heinz Family Foundation. The Heinz Awards each year recognize outstanding individuals for their innovative contributions in three areas: the Arts, the Economy and the Enviro ...

in the Arts and Humanities. In the spring of 2001, a 14-year-old student came forward to Turnbull and reported that the choir's chief counselor, Frank Jones Jr., had been molesting him for years. Turnbull failed to notify the police and did nothing to investigate the allegations. It was later revealed that Turnbull and his brother, Horace, the choir's executive vice president, allowed Jones to stay in contact with students even after city officials explicitly banned him from the 650-student academy (a public school that is overseen and financed in part by the Department of Education). Jones was allowed to remain so close to students that he was called upon by the Turnbulls to chaperone at least eight overnight choir trips. A city school official reported to investigators that Horace Turnbull had complained to her that barring Mr. Jones was "a hardship," because he was "an integral part" of the program. The silence regarding the allegations against Jones was eventually broken when the 14-year-old student's mother went to the authorities. That fall Jones was arrested, tried and sentenced to two years in prison for multiple counts of third-degree sexual abuse and endangerment of a child. In 2003, city investigators concluded that the Turnbull brothers had failed to report the complaints of abuse to the authorities and had allowed Mr. Jones to continue working with children. A memorandum was issued to the choir's board of directors by investigators for the New York City schools. It urged the choir's board to dismiss the Turnbull brothers. The board immediately asked for the resignation of Walter and Horace Turnbull. Both men refused to resign and defended themselves publicly. In a surprising move, the choir board then voted unanimously to recommend that the Turnbulls be kept on in a revised capacity. As a result, the city school system's investigative arm recommended that the Department of Education "sever all ties" with the academy if the Turnbulls remain. Shortly after, the Department of Education did just that and evicted the choir from the city-owned school property where they had been operating rent-free since 1993. The Choir relocated to the Metropolitan Community Methodist Church. He died on March 23, 2007 in a New York City hospital.Harlem Boys Choir founder dead at 62 in nydailynews.com
/ref> He had reportedly suffered a stroke months earlier.

References

1944 births 2007 deaths Manhattan School of Music alumni 20th-century American musicians Tougaloo College alumni People from Greenville, Mississippi Musicians from Mississippi 20th-century African-American musicians 21st-century African-American people {{US-musician-stub