Jon Vickers, the former Flin Flonner whose powerful voice made him a globally renowned opera star, has died. He was 88.
Vickers passed away Friday, July 10 in Ontario after a battle with Alzheimer’s disease, according to media reports.
As the Globe and Mail reported, the Prince Albert native moved to Flin Flon as a young man and worked as an assistant manager at Woolworth’s.
“It was not long before his wonderful singing voice was discovered and he became a lead in a local Gilbert and Sullivan production,” Arlie Freer wrote.
In 1950, Vickers, a singer since early childhood, received a scholarship to study opera at Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music.
He enjoyed a 30-year career, highlighted by productions such as Handel’s Messiah and the grand opera Les Troyens, before retiring in 1988.
In 1998 Vickers received Canada’s highest honour for the performing arts, the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement.
