SNIPPET: John McCORMACK (1884-1945), one of the finest and most popular tenor singers of the first quarter of the 20th century, was born into a tough working-class family in Athlone, in Co. Westmeath - the fourth of eleven children born to Andrew and Hannah McCORMACK - at a time when Ireland was one of the poorest countries in Europe. Nonetheless, John was full of determination to make a name for himself, and according to those who knew him, was possessed of "language so earthy, a docker might blush to hear him." Mc CORMACK's success was phenomenal. The subsequent publicized "rivalry" between McCORMACK and singer Enrico CARUSO was friendly, each tenor deferring to the other as the greatest of the day. Both became millionaires and both became mainstays of the RCA Victor recording company. CARUSO, who was also an actor and artist, drew affectionate caricatures of his friend, McCORMACK, in pen and ink. McCORMACK was the first mega-star of music and this success led to a mansion in Hollywood and a grand estate in Ireland which was once the seat of the earls of Drogheda. He was made a Count of the Papal court, and for a great part of his life was known as "John, Count McCormack." He was lionized in America, being the guest of honor at President WILSON's Fourth of July concert in 1918, having a year previously renounced "all previous allegiances" to the UK (which included Ireland) to become an American citizen. This act was virtually ignored in Ireland, but officially, England took offense, as his change of nationality had taken place a few months before America had entered the "Great War." There was an irony here, too, for it was in England, after his voice and his fortune failed (he had a weakness for slow race-horses), that McCORMACK's most loyal audiences remained. McCORMACK's wife was Lily FOLEY, a Dublin soprano. They were married in 1906 and had two children, a son, Cyril, and a daughter, Gwen. In 1920 having spent several years in the USA, he returned to Dublin with his family where he lived until his death on 16 Sept 1945. Today the "John McCormack Golden Voice Competition," which is held every year in Athlone in his memory, attracts top-grade singers from Britain and Ireland.