McAleese and Ahern lead tributes to tenor Frank Patterson

The President, Mrs McAleese, and the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, have led tributes to the tenor, Mr Frank Patterson, who has died at the age of 59.

The inheritor of Count John McCormack's mantle of Ireland's leading tenor, Mr Patterson made 36 albums in a career spanning four decades. He was diagnosed with a brain tumour last year and underwent several operations. Three weeks ago he was to sing at the funeral of Cardinal John O'Connor in New York, but collapsed on the same morning. He did make one final performance, at a concert in Boston last Sunday.

Mrs McAleese said she was deeply saddened by the Clonmel-born singer's untimely death. He had "proudly promoted" Ireland and Irish music throughout the world. "The people of Tipperary, of Ireland and lovers of great musical talent around the world will sorely miss Frank's fantastic personality and generosity which, along with his acclaimed talent made him one of Ireland's favourite sons," she said.

Mr Ahern described Mr Patterson as "among the greatest artists that this island has produced. As a world-class tenor he has brought notice and distinction to the great Irish musical tradition".

The undoubted highlight of Mr Patterson's career for many people was his performance before an audience of over one million people at the Papal Mass in the Phoenix Park in 1979. He was made a Knight of St Gregory for his services to the Pope.

Cinemagoers will best remember Mr Patterson for the role of the tenor Bartell D'Arcy in the film version of The Dead. He also appeared in Miller's Crossing and Michael Collins.

While music purists sometimes cavilled at his preference for popular favourites over classical music, there was no doubting his appeal with the public. In the 1970s his RTE programme For Your Pleasure was a huge success; in the 1990s he sang five of the 20 tracks on the surprise hit compilation of religious anthems, Faith of our Fathers.

The singer's cheery personality is encapsulated in articles written about him over the years, under headlines such as "the world's jolliest tenor" and "a happy man". But beneath the bonhomie lay a strong drive and a practical ego; "I love being recognised. I love filling halls. I can fill Radio City Centre (in New York) and I love it," he told The Irish Times in 1996.

Born in 1941, Mr Patterson left school after the Inter Cert to go into the family printing business. In Dublin he studied singing during the day under Dr Hans Waldemar Rosen and paid for his lessons with a night-job at Irish Printers.

He won four competitions in the 1964 Feis Ceoil, and singing engagements and recording contracts followed. A series of American tours consolidated his reputation on both sides of the Atlantic; Mr Patterson performed with his wife, the pianist Eily O'Grady, in the White House on several occasions.

The couple moved with their son Eanan to the US in 1987, although they continued to live part of the year in Co Wicklow. The actor and radio presenter, Mr Des Keogh, who is married to Mr Patterson's sister-in-law Ms Geraldine O'Grady, yesterday described the tenor's unique relationship with audiences: "It was wonderful to see the way the audience reacted to him. The love came across. And it was a two-way thing. He just adored his audiences as well."

Mr Patterson's life will be celebrated at a Mass in St Patrick's Cathedral in New York on Wednesday. His body will be flown home to Ireland the same day and the removal takes place to the Pro-Cathedral in Dublin at 6.30 p.m. on Thursday. He will be buried in Clonmel cemetery on Saturday.