Waddell, John (Jack) Austin

The text below was summarized by JoAnna Mink from “Voice of Experience” by Rachel Hatch, Illinois Wesleyan University Magazine, Winter 2007. There’s much more research to be done on this incredible individual. If you’re interested in volunteering to help uncover more local history, please click here to contact our volunteer department.

John Austin Waddell’s 50-year career spanned the stages of America and Europe, but it started in Bloomington and at Illinois Wesleyan University. Jack Waddell graduated from Bloomington High School in 1959, where his talent for singing was recognized by his teacher, Mary Selk. He sang for the BHS choir and joined a local community choir established by IWU Professor of Voice Henry Charles. Impressed with Waddell’s voice, Charles arranged for him to take private lessons. “I told him, ‘I can’t afford lessons.’ I was living with my mother and grandparents, and we didn’t have money. But he let me work off the lessons,” says Waddell. “He also connected me with a scholarship for Illinois Wesleyan.” Waddell was in the Chapel and Collegiate choirs, the Singing Titans, Madrigals, and Opera Theatre. The experience gave him confidence to tackle the title role in Mozart’s Don Giovanni.

After graduation in 1963 as a music voice major, Waddell set his sights on New York, where it was assumed by his fellow performers that he would teach music. There were very few African-Americans in opera at that time, and almost all of them were women. Realizing that opportunities were greater for Black performers in Europe, Waddell moved to West Germany in 1967. Members of Bavaria’s Bad Reichenhall Philharmonic Orchestra heard of the talented young American singer and came to hear Waddell in person. Consequently, he was signed up as a visiting soloist and had his European debut. Waddell continued to sing and perform abroad for the next two decades, always in demand for German stage and TV. The West German government even considered Waddell a German citizen, issuing him a passport.

His first major U.S. exposure came in 1969, after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., when Waddell put together an NBC television tribute to King that featured classic African-American spirituals.

Waddell was also a voice coach. During his first show in Germany—a production of Hair with Donna Summer—he was asked to be a vocal coach. When he returned to New York, he knew it was time to give back and become a teacher. From his studio on 49th Street in New York City, Waddell counted among his students many top, young Broadway performers. Among his students was Brandon Victor Dixon, who was nominated for a Tony award in 2006 for “Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical” for his role in The Color Purple.

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