ANDREW BENNY FRIERSON
Andrew Benny Frierson was an American operatic baritone and one of the first generation of Black opera singers to achieve success, opening the doors to a line of Black performers in the opera world. He received the “Lift Every Voice” Legacy Award by the National Opera Association in 2000, an annual prize created to honor the achievements made by African-American artists to opera in this country and promote racial and ethnic diversity in opera.
“Andrew Frierson’s bass-baritone reverberated from the stages of theaters and music halls around the world as part of the first generation of black opera singers to make their voices heard…” New York Times, 2018
Born in Columbia, a descendant of Slaves
Andrew Frierson was born in 1924 just outside the city of Columbia at Cross Bridges, in a cabin on a hill at Liberty Hall, an estate dating back to when his great grandfather George and grandfather Gardner Grandison Frierson were slaves. George Frierson was the property of Thomas James Frierson, a plantation owner who came to Maury County with five families there from South Carolina in 1805. In their move west, these families brought slaves with them and established the Zion Community in Maury County. A monument dedicated to the slaves of W.R Frierson (son of Thomas James) is located on a farm at Cross Bridges where there is a slave cemetery.
Grandison was 5 years old in 1845 when Thomas Frierson died. Grandison’s son Robert remained on the farm at Cross Bridges where the Thomas Frierson family lived and there he married Lou Virgie Estes in 1909. Andrew Frierson was born as the youngest of their seven children, with five older sisters and one brother. When he was only nine months old, Frierson’s family moved to Louisville, Kentucky, when his father, Robert Frierson, learned that the Louisville to Nashville Railroad (L&N) was hiring Blacks.
A Child Prodigy
Frierson’s unique musical talent first became recognized when he began playing the piano at the age of three, even though he had received no training. He continued to improve his self-taught skills on piano and finally began receiving music lessons when he turned eight years old. After graduating high school, Frierson enrolled at Fisk University in Nashville majoring in music.
Frierson’s college education was put on hold when he was drafted to serve during World War II and deployed to the South Pacific. This was followed by 2 1/2 years in Army service, where he began entertaining troops as a singer. Returning home after the war, Frierson started working with a voice coach, who encouraged him to apply to the Juilliard School of Music in New York. Frierson was accepted and earned a degree in vocal performance from Julliard, continuing on to earn a master’s degree at the Manhattan School of Music. While attending school he became friends with Leontyne Price, who became the first African American Prima Donna (lead woman singer) at the Metropolitan Opera. Another classmate at Julliard was soprano Billy Lynn Daniel. The two were married in 1953, a marriage that lasted 50 years, until her death in 2002.
Carnegie Hall and a Career of Performance
While still a student at Julliard, Frierson received critical acclaim after a solo performance at Carnegie Hall in 1948. One reviewer wrote, “He already has the essential attributes – a beautiful voice, good technique, musicianship, sympathy, and a fine presence.”
Frierson went on to perform for six consecutive seasons with the New York City Opera. In the late 1950s, Frierson was also a member of The Belafonte Folk Singers, a group who sang backup for the popular performer Harry Belafonte, both in live concerts and on some of Belafonte’s albums. The group also made some of their own recordings without Belafonte.
Frierson appeared in numerous productions on Broadway, including the title role of Joe in Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. His participation in the revival of the production entitled Show Boat led to an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, where performed the song Ol’ Man River.
In 1963, Frierson was again on the stage, this time singing at the historic March on Washington, remembered around the world as when Martin Luther King gave his “I Have a Dream” speech.
Frierson’s wife Billy Lynn Daniel was also a performer in her own right, with a career as a solo performing artist touring throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe. In 1975, the two worked together, performing a set of musical compositions created specifically for two voices to a sold-out audience at the Lincoln Center in New York. One reviewer wrote, “Both singers used their voices to fine advantage, blending smoothly and warmly… the couple’s engaging musical personalities put each selection into a well-rounded characterful perspective. Miss Daniel and Mr. Frierson made the most of the music’s operatic potential.” Their repertoire spanned beyond classical opera to include Negro spirituals and other melodies. One review went on to say, “Frierson’s singing of Ol’ Man River brought the proceedings to life… even for listeners convinced they had already heard the song too often. His rendition was quite electrifying.”
A Teaching Career
In addition to performing, Frierson taught voice as a member of the faculty of several universities, including Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in the 1950s, directed the Henry Street Settlement Music School in Manhattan in the 1960s, and was a professor of voice at Oberlin College in Ohio in the 1970s.
In the 1980s, Frierson co-founded an organization called Independent Operatic Singers to help bring more black male performers into opera through educational opportunities and competitions. The organization became a voice calling attention to the lack of real diversity in opera, especially in major or lead roles. Frierson spoke out in the 1997 book, Dialogues on Opera and the African American Experience, saying “There has not been a ‘real’ black male opera superstar because of racist and sexist attitudes in America. Audiences, particularly white audiences, may tolerate a black woman being wooed and pursued by a white male, but to have a black male wooing a white female is totally unacceptable by the powers that be.”
Coming Full Circle
As Frierson’s 80th birthday drew near, he began to reflect on his family’s beginnings in Maury County, realizing how much of the story remained unknown to him. Research through county records located a mention of his grandfather Gardner Frierson.
This reconnection led to a performance in 2007 at Zion Presbyterian Church, an institution going all the way back to the original founding of the Zion community. The event coincided with and launched the opening of the Maury County Bicentennial celebration.
During the time of slavery, plantation owners often brought their slaves to church services, placing them in a balcony, separate from the white congregation below. One of the concert organizers suggested it would be appropriate for the seating to be reversed for this homecoming. During the concert, the white attendees sat in the balcony, with Frierson’s friends and family seated in the pews below, drawing this remark from Frierson, “I can only imagine what my grandfather would think to see his grandson singing from the sanctuary of the Zion Presbyterian Church. I suspect he would be proud to see how far his hometown had come.”
Family History and DNA
Generations after leaving South Carolina, Frierson still referred to his family as “rice-eating Geechee.” Geechee or Gullah refers to slaves from West Africa who lived along the Ogeechee River in Georgia/South Carolina and spread to the barrier islands and areas in Georgia and South Carolina.
When DNA testing became popular and available to the general public, Frierson had his checked, which revealed he had no European DNA.
DNA results would indicate that Frierson’s ancestors were first brought to the Caribbean and then to South Carolina and thence to Tennessee.
In Andrew’s case, his DNA was as follows:
40% Nigeria (West Africa)
33.3 % Burkina Faso (In West Africa near Nigeria
6.3 Guinea Bissau (Next to Burkina Faso in West Africa)
10% Grenada (across the Atlantic and to the Caribbean)
These four areas represent 89.6% of Frierson’s DNA. Further sequencing of the four most recent DNA showed that his origin was, in order:
Morocco .2 percent
Trinidad and Tobago 3.2%
United States 1.5
U.S. Native American 1%
“Slavery is a part of all our history. We must understand and acknowledge where we came from in order to move forward.” —Andrew Frierson