Braham

Braham, John, vocalist, was born in 1774 in London, of Jewish descent. In 1787 he made his first appearance in public at Covent Garden theatre. In 1796, after his voice had broken, he made a hit in Storace's opera Mahmoud at Drury Lane, and thereafter set out upon a most successful continental tour. He returned in 1801, and continued to sing in public till within a year or two of his death, maintaining his supremacy as the leading vocalist in Europe. He accumulated a large fortune, purchased the Colosseum, Regent's Park, and built St. James's theatre. Sir Walter Scott described him as "a beast of an actor and an angel of a singer." He died in 1856 at Brompton, leaving six children, one of whom, Frances, married the Earl of Waldegrave in 1840, and became a notable figure in society.