Roland Hayes, who gained national and international fame as a classical concert artist, launched his career in Boston's Symphony Hall in 1917. He lived, studied, and worked in Boston and Brookline, Massachusetts, from 1912 until his death in 1977. In 1921 the noted tenor gave a command performance before the King and Queen of England at Buckingham Palace. He pioneered in bringing African-American religious folk-songs (the spirituals) to the American and world concert stage.