Abdul, Raoul, 1973 - 1990

Opera singer, author, book editor, and gay rights advocate Raoul Abdul, born November 7, 1929 in Cleveland, Ohio, began his writing career as an obituary writer for the black newspaper Cleveland Call and Post and later wrote music reviews and articles for the New York Age (another black newspaper). He earned a diploma from the Vienna Academy of Music (1962); studied at Harvard University, the New School for Social Research, the Cleveland Institute of Music; sang at Vermont's Marlboro Music Festival (1956) and the Vienna Music Festival (1962); and served as literary assistant to Langston Hughes (1961-1967). In his New York apartment in Chelsea, Raoul Abdul gave private singing lessons based on the singing technique he had learned in Vienna. Eudora Francine Price was one of his students; he was known as a specialist in German art song and wrote music reviews for the New York Amsterdam News for over thirty years.

In 1970, he edited (with folklorist Alan Lomax) a anthology entitled, 3000 Years of Black Poetry. A devoted advocate for gay rights, he was active in organizations such as Stonewall Mattachine Society and One Incorporated, and spoke about famous African American gay figures at New York's Riverside Church.

Abdul died on January 15, 2010 at the age of 80.

[African American National Biography, accessed October 12, 2014, via Oxford African American Studies Center database / https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/raoul-abdul-40 / https://archives.nypl.org/scm/184553 / https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raoul_Abdul]