James McCracken

James McCracken (December 16, 1926 – April 29, 1988) was an American tenor.

He was born in Gary, Indiana and began singing in his church choir as a child. While he was in the US Navy during World War II, he sang in the Blue Jacket Choir. He studied music at Columbia University and with Elsa Seyfert in Konstanz, Germany.

He made his debut in 1952 with the Central City Opera in Colorado as Rodolfo in Puccini's "La bohème." He sang minor roles at the Metropolitan Opera from 1953 to 1957, while he was still a student. In 1957, he moved to Europe and made his debut at the Vienna State Opera. He had great success with the Zürich Opera.

Otello was one of his signature roles. Starting in 1963, he became one of the Met's principal dramatic tenors.

He was married to the mezzo-soprano Sandra Warfield, with whom he performed Saint-Saëns' "Samson and Delilah," at the Met. He returned to the Met only weeks before his death at the age of 61. He was a member of the Metropolitan Opera's final U.S. tour, where he sang the role of Canio in "Pagliacci".

McCracken left a legacy of fine recordings, such as "Le prophète" (with Marilyn Horne and Renata Scotto, c1976), "Carmen" (conducted by Leonard Bernstein, 1972), "Fidelio" (with Birgit Nilsson, 1964), "Otello" (with Dame Gwyneth Jones, 1968) and "Pagliacci" (1967), as well as Schoenberg's Gurre-Lieder (with Jessye Norman, Tatiana Troyanos and David Arnold, 1979).