The talent of William McAlpine, who became one of Britain's leading tenors in the 1950s and 1960s, and who has died aged 81, was discovered in an unusual fashion - when he was heard singing his heart out on a building site in London in 1943.
Born into a working-class family in Stenhousemuir, Stirlingshire, McAlpine left Larbert High School at 16. Having failed his RAF medical, he became an apprentice bricklayer and moved to London. A woman in a flat opposite the building site on which he was singing insisted on taking him to the former baritone Roy Henderson, who had taught Kathleen Ferrier. Initially, McAlpine was trained by Henderson as a baritone, but when he sent the young singer to Walter Hyde, an eminent tenor of the past, it was decided that McAlpine was himself a tenor.
In 1952 McAlpine was offered a contract as a principal with the Royal Opera House. For the next four seasons he played cameo roles but soon he was invited to sing major parts with Sadler's Wells Opera, making his debut as Alfredo in La Traviata (1955), followed by Rodolfo in La Bohème. He sang regularly with the company until 1965. Among his most notable roles were Lensky in Eugene Onegin and Hermann in The Queen Of Spades.
In 1960 he was back at Covent Garden singing Alfredo to Sutherland's Violetta, and the title part in The Tales Of Hoffmann. He made his Glyndebourne debut as Idamante in Idomeneo (1956). He was also sought after by the Berlin City Opera.
McAlpine was quite the opposite of the traditional tenor. Always unassuming and reticent about his talent, he preferred to help others rather than further his own interests. Had he been more ambitious, his career might have been even more substantial.
He died following a heart attack after a session at the Guildhall School of Music, where he began to teach after diabetes forced him to give up performance in the 1970s. He is survived by his wife, Barbara, and two daughters.
William McAlpine: born December 3rd, 1922; died February 2nd, 2004