THE MAN WITH THE VOICE
by William Harness
as told to Aretta Loving
"I'd rather have Jesus than anything..than to be a king of a vast domain...." As I sing those words in concerts across the USA, I am reminded of my years of basking in the ovations and acclaim of the crowds as I sang professional opera; of my years of "living the good life". One thing I learned from those years: fame and fortune, without Jesus can never fill the emptiness or satisfy the longing in a person's heart.
My testimony of salvation actually begins with my parents. It was mid-depression years but Dad had a good job in a paper mill in Washington. Life was good and stable for him, my mother and their two daughters. Then Mother upset that. Someone invited her to a church that met in a small, rundown building. She went and gave her life to Jesus Christ. She was anxious for Dad to join her in her faith. But he would have nothing to do with a church that met "on the other side of the tracks." Mother prayed with fervency. Two years later Dad finally went to church with her. That day he not only met Jesus as Saviour, but this man with no church background felt God's call to the ministry.
A short time before I was born, in the small church my father pastored in Oregon, Mother was deeply touched as the gifted five year old son of a visiting evangelist sang. She felt the Lord impressing on her that she would have a son who would be "a singer and bless many round the world." How she needed that assurance during my teen years.
Even before I could talk, I'd sit on the front bench at church and sing to the top of my voice right on key. Through those years, my family totally lived on faith and believing in the existence of Jesus was not hard. In fact, I believed in Jesus so strongly that I thought He was actually a member of our family. I remember at the age of five listening to Dad preaching the "old fashioned gospel" about sin, about Jesus dying for the sins of the world, about death and judgment. But when he gave the altar call, I'd grab hold of that bench with all my strength. Even at that "tender" age, I was not so tender. My stubborn will refused to go forward and bow the knee to Jesus Christ. Thus early on, I established a pattern that we humans are so prone to--putting up barriers between God and us.
It's common for children to decide what they want to be in life. I made that decision in my eleventh year. I decided to be a juvenile delinquent. The problem was that I had a lot of talent for this. I broke the hearts of my parents those next few years, constantly getting into trouble. When afraid of being caught, I'd pray, "Dear Lord, don't let anything happen to me. I'll become a Christian when I get really, really old."
In my Dad's church, the youth "group"consisted of one other boy and me, however, near our home was a large, Presbyterian church. Dad bargained with me, "If you will go there for services every Sunday morning and evening and youth meeting every Wednesday night, you won't have to attend my church." I accepted his proposal and soon, I learned how to put on the "holy-joe" outfit. Parents would say, "Oh, Bill, I wish my son was as good a Christian as you." That went on for five years, years in which I was receiving tremendous Bible teaching. But I wasn't a Christian. I was what teenagers today call a "poser." In church, I posed as a Christian and out of church, I was back into trouble.
All my life I had heard what the consequences of my sin would be if I died. "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after that the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27) "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23) -- eternal separation from God and everything good. One day in the midst of my rebellion, God's Spirit graphically reminded me of that. I literally ran to the pastor's office, and there on my knees I cried and begged the Lord Jesus to take away my sin. He did! My burden of sin was replaced with an indescribable peace. And like Dad the same day that Jesus became my Savior, I also felt God call me into His ministry. I then returned to the desire I had when I first sang in public at just three years of age--to sing for Jesus!
After that my parents sent me to a Christian High School for my final two years. There I had the honor of becoming captain of the basket-ball team. But when I was chosen to sing baritone in the school's main, male quartet, I considered that an even greater honor! Following high school and starting a career job with a National Company, my one great desire was still to be a gospel singer. In 1963, my company sent me to Denver for more electronics training. There, as president of the career and college class of the church I attended, I fell in love with the beautiful, class secretary, Marie Ward.
Marie and I married that year and moved to Seattle to start our family. The music director of our church, a man heavily involved in the city's gospel music scene, took me in hand. He mentored me as we worked together in church. He appreciated working with me. "With a voice like yours," he told me. I would sing in our church, or any church that I could get to ask me! Sometimes I'd get a male quartet together making sure I had the solo part and then inform a music minister, we were ready to sing. I always had a compelling drive to share Jesus Christ in song. Large Seattle churches would hire four singers-one for each voice. I often sang in these large churches as tenor soloist-always old time gospel songs. Others, studying and trying desperately to get into opera, would sing high classical selections. "Why don't you sing real music?" I'd taunt, for I noticed that gospel songs touch people in a way that some classical music failed to do. Singing my type of music made me feel I was more spiritual than the other singers. I loved to argue doctrine, easily switching from pro to con on eternal Security, Baptism, Tongue Speaking, whatever. I also felt more spiritual because of my "church going" habit. After all, if you want to be a gospel singer, you spend time in churches, not in taverns. Had I taken inventory of my life, I would have realized I was loosing my first love for Jesus. And I was becoming more and more dependent on Bill Harness, less and less dependent on Jesus.
About that time, a recording engineer suggested I make a record and volunteered his time. He directed me to a man who "will certainly be glad to help you since you've done so much for him." But that man asked an amount of money for his advice which devastated me realizing he had used my talents for years without compensation. That night in discouragement, Marie and I prayed out to God, "Show us what You want to do with the voice you have given me." The next morning Leonard Moore, Conductor of the Seattle Chorale, phoned and asked me to sing tenor solo in a Chorale concert. I was elated! The best singers in the Seattle area sang with the Chorale. During rehearsal Leonard Moore came to me and said. "Where have you been? You have 20 times more potential than these people you're singing with!" The other three soloists had Master's Degrees, taught voice lessons at University level, and sang professional opera. How can I possibly be as good as he says? I had always tended to ignore compliments about my voice. Why, I've never even seriously studied voice! But here was a man I held in high esteem "You have got to do something with this voice, he said!" I felt God was saying, "You have to do this." But what did "this" mean and where would it lead me?"
After the concert, the newspapers gave me tremendous reviews. I was encouraged to do something. But what? A small article in the newspaper caught my attention. In five weeks the Metropolitan Opera would hold auditions in Seattle for tenors. Their age limit, "no older than 30." That meant now or never for me! "I'll do it," I decided. I phoned Leonard Moore and he agreed to help me.
"How many arias do you know?" He asked. "None," I replied. "Well," he sighed, "you'll have to work super hard, but you can do it! You'll need to master at least five arias." Then, if that wasn't enough of a challenge, with no foreign language background, apart from first year high school Spanish, I was told, "And you'll have to sing in three different languages." Following Leonard Moore's directions, I got music and records of arias in French, Italian and English from the public library. I then would go to Mr. Moore's house and he'd help me with pronunciation and grammar. Then I'd go home and practice and practice.
No one told me I was supposed to know the meaning of those syllables I was singing. So at the audition, not realizing I was singing a tragedy, I threw my arms around, smiled and acted happy. The audience loved it! It's a sure thing, I thought, I've won! But no, I was not one of the three chosen. A chorus of boo's from the audience brought the judge, the Metropolitan Chorus master himself, on stage. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is the voice I've been looking for, but this man knows nothing about what he's doing. You people must get behind him," he announced.
Discouraged, I prayed, "Lord, this must not be what you want for me." Two days later the audition chairman called saying that some people in Seattle had raised $900 for voice lessons. In 1972, I started lessons with a former Metropolitan Opera Star. In the spring, after auditioning with the San Francisco Opera, I was invited to go there for intensive training. That summer in San Francisco, I learned the Opera "La Boheme" in seventeen days and sang the tenor lead for 22,000 people at the San Francisco Stern Grove. The newspapers gave me rave reviews.
From there it was all the way up! The head of the San Francisco Opera told me, "Bill, I'll do everything in my power to get you into opera--if that's what you want." I, who had once self-appointed myself the self-oppointed President of the "I Hate Opera Society," gave a resounding, "Yes, Sir, that's what I want!"
Things happened fast after that. I quit my career job. The opera raised $20,000 to get me started. I'd spend a month of six to seven hour days in training, then go on tour. through the years, I sang with famous opera singers -- Leontyne Price, Joan Sutherland, Birgit Nilsson, Jerome Hines, and many others. Singing with Beverly Sills caused me to get international reviews.
I'll be `salt' to these needy people in the opera world, I told myself. But that didn't happen. I was away from my family-both my wife and children and my Christian family-sometimes for 11 months at a time. Instead of becoming a testimony to my colleagues I adopted their lifestyle-even became a leader. My living in sin broke Marie's heart and was fast breaking up our marriage. I was also having problems with our children. I found that a person cannot know the Light of the world and live in the darkness of the world and be happy.
In 1977, I sang the title role in the Opera, "Faust" being cast as the `good guy'. Jerome Hines, with whom I had made my debut in the Metropolitan Opera, was cast as Mephistopheles, the Devil. I knew Jerome was an outstanding Christian. One night during performance my misery got the best of me. "Jerry, I need to talk...," I told him. He sat up until the early hours of the morning, listening to me and praying for me. I wept as I told him of God's call on my life. I confessed that I'd not only blown that, but I'd also blown my Christian testimony and my relationship with my wife and children. Marie and I were heading for a divorce.
I went home determined to fix up my life! I knew the mechanical things to do; begin reading the Word again, start fellowshiping with Christians, mend my marriage and solve the problems with my children--stop sinning! I tried and fell flat on my face. All my endeavors only resulted in a three week depression so deep that I didn't even want to live. In that state, did something that was beyond my power. I called out to the Lord, "God, you take it all. Take my life, my voice, my career." I had no assurance doing that would give me back the love and respect of my wife and children. But I didn't bargain with God, I just gave everything to Him
That evening the Lord spoke to me. No writing on the wall or thunder from Heaven, but I knew it was God. He impressed on my heart to go back to my first love; singing for Him. And still I had the audacity to argue with Him. "Lord, how can I do that? When singing gospel, sometimes I'd get $25, sometimes $100, sometimes a handshake and a thank-you. I have five children and a wife to support. And besides, I have no church contacts. No one knows that years ago...." The Lord was silent. He wasn't impressed with my arguments. He had spoken!
On the following Monday, a man from California called me. "I read in the San Francisco Examiner that you used to do Gospel concerts..." Apologetically, he added, "Do you think you could come to California and sing a gospel concert...?" I must have raised six inches out of my chair! That week alone, I had five calls from around the country asking me to do gospel concerts. But more miraculously than that, the Lord showed Himself as the Healer of depression, broken hearts and broken relationships. He put my marriage back together beautifully.
Today Marie travels with me in this faith ministry of presenting the Lord Jesus Christ in song. Since we have no guarantee of salary, it is exciting to look into the future and say, "There is no way, absolutely no way whatsoever, we can meet our bills and eat too." Yet the Lord Jesus is on our side and He has never failed us.
As we're getting older, the wear and tear of going out weekends is sometimes a bit tough. Sometimes we think, "If we only did normal things, we'd make more money and have more time to ourselves." But the concerts have become more than just a singing ministry. People are blessed, some are saved, sometimes some are even healed. This makes me know I can't quit. Singing for the God of the universe is far more exciting than it ever was singing for the god of this puny little world!
Romans 8:28 says that "all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose". I realize now that all of these things that have happened in my life, the Lord has used to allow me to minister with music in a very special way. Before going through the opera experience, people would come to me and say, you have such a beautiful voice - now they come to me with tears in their eyes saying that God touched their life through my singing and sharing. This is the highest compliment anyone can receive.
Our travels lead us throughout the United States and Canada. We Have also had 10 concerts in South Africa, six trips to former communists countrys and many trips to prisons.
To contact WILLIAM HARNESS Send comments or orders to: whsc@pobox.com