I was born with congenital heart disease called coarctation syndrome. Most people with that didn't use to live very long. I lived in a small town and our family was treated by a kindly old country Dr., but he didn't know what was wrong with me. By the time I was 19 I had my first heart surgery, which only partially bettered my condition. My heart would be weak, and my lungs and kidneys also. When I was 25 my voice appeared all at once as a gift from God. I won the Santa Fe Auditions for Apprentice, the Met National Auditions, The WGN Auditions. I was off to a flying start. I had no intention of telling anyone that I had heart disease. When you are competing with thousands of good singers, the last thing you want to announce is some major heart problem you have. I didn't want to give the business an excuse to get rid of me. So I tried to put on an act that nothing was wrong with me and I was as strong as an ox. My voice was as strong as any Verdi baritone of my day. But my heart and lungs were weak. I would be in the middle of rehearsals for heavy roles like "Rigoletto" and my body would just break down from the stress. I would have to lay out of rehearsals for a few days and come back in. But I can honestly say that I always came through in performance, and out of over 300 reviews there may be only two or three that are not just glowing--like your manager wrote them himself. But I pushed myself relentlessly to be able to perform in this high environment. If you look at all the Rigolettos I did, all the big roles like Macbeth, Telramund, Amonasro, Boris Godounov, Barnaba, Scarpia, I literally had to draw on my will in order to command my body so that I could do the role. Martti Talvela had heart disease and he dropped dead at his daughter's wedding. A diseased heart and lungs are not well suited to opera. This is what I had to overcome each performance, without anyone knowing about it.

Some people complained that I was difficult to work with. My combination of heroic vocalism and fragile health was confusing. Perhaps I erred in not telling the truth about my heart from the beginning, but I was afraid they would not cast me in the big roles if they knew. Instead I got a reputation of being difficult to work with---which I am not really. I really pushed my heart and body hard in some roles, Telramund, Barnaba, et al, and finally it all caught up to me. In 1994 I had to have another heart surgery. I recovered from that one quickly and was back on the stage in three months. Then in 2006 my artificial heart valve cracked and I began drowning in my own blood. It took the Canadian medical system almost a year to give me a new surgery. By that time my lungs were damaged. Now my heart is too weak to sing and my lungs hold enough air for about four tones. Singing, my art, my greatest joy, my calling, I can do no more. But I will not indulge here in my personal loss. My sadness now is a part of the joy then. That's the deal. If in 1974 when I debuted in opera, a psychic had told me that I could play it safe with my voice and sing less demanding roles and have a longer career, or sing the greatest roles in opera and wear my heart out early, I would not change a thing. I would still sing Rigoletto, Macbeth, Amonasro, Renato, Falstaff, Boris, Pizarro, Telramund, with a mind possessed of a dream to unite legitimate acting with world-class vocalism. Of course I am sad now that I can no longer sing, but the sadness now is a part of the high times then. That's the deal.