Lola Hayes and "Tone Pictures of the Negro in Music" | WNYC | New York Public Radio, Podcasts,...

Lola Wilson Hayes (1906-2001) was a highly-regarded African-American mezzo-soprano, WNYC producer, and later, much sought after vocal teacher and coach. A Boston native, Hayes was a music graduate of Radcliffe College and studied voice with Frank Bibb at Baltimore's Peabody Conservatory. She taught briefly at a black vocational boarding school in New Jersey known as the 'Tuskeegee of the north'[1] before embarking on a recital and show career which took her to Europe and around the United States. During World War II, she also made frequent appearances at the American Theatre Wing of the Stage Door Canteen of New York and entertained troops at USO clubs and hospitals.