John Sims Reeves by King

John Sims Reeves (1821-1900); English tenor.
In 1838 he made his debut (as a baritone) in Newcastle in the opera “Guy Mannering”. From 1841-1843 he was singing minor rôles at the London Drury Lane Theatre, but he continued his studies and his voice turned into a tenor. In 1846 he made a guest appearance at La Scala in Milan as Edgardo in “Lucia di Lammermoor”, a rôle he repeated in London in 1847 with great success. Also in 1847 he sang at the première of Balfe’s opera “The maid of honour”. In 1863 he created the rôle of Faust in the first English sung version of Gounod’s eponymous opera. In the last part of his career he was mainly active as a ballad and oratorio singer.

He published his life story in 1881 in the book “S. Reeves.His life and recollections”.