I am the preacher sung by tenor Jo Ward

I am the preacher sung by tenor Jo Ward Written by Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway Recorded in 1970. This cover version of the Deep Purple song ’I am the preacher’ was Jo Ward’s first 7“ single recording, it was coupled with the song ’Go my love’ which I’ll upload shortly. Joseph Ward (born Preston, 1932) is an English tenor, formerly a baritone, who created roles in operas by Benjamin Britten and Michael Tippett. He has also made a career as a singing teacher -- his pupils include Jane Eaglen, Joan Rodgers, Arthur Davies, Ian Caley, Rosalind Sutherland, Barry Banks, Jon Villars, Maria Pollicina, Andrew Collis the West-End star, Claire Moore and the distinguished Australian baritone Jeffrey Black. He started touring as a singer at the age of eight, entertaining the American troops during World War Two in England. He then spent time working in various professions, before he was asked to attend the Royal Manchester College of Music at the age of 17. As a baritone he created the role of Starveling in A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Britten (1960), and in the same year sang the same composer’s eponymous hero Billy Budd in the radio-broadcast premiere of the revised two-act version. He became principal baritone at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, making his debut there in 1962. He also created the role of Patroclus in Tippett’s opera King Priam. He recorded as a baritone the role of Sid in Britten’s Albert Herring, conducted by the composer. He subsequently transferred to the tenor repertoire and became Covent Garden’s resident principal tenor. A friend of Joan Sutherland’s, he was a principal tenor with the Sutherland-Williamson Grand Opera Company in a 1965 tour of Australia. In 1966 he appeared in the sole recording of Bernard Herrmann’s only opera, Wuthering Heights, conducted by the composer. In 1972 he founded the Opera School at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester UK and subsequently became Head of Vocal Studies there in 1986. In Australia he has directed productions of Billy Budd and Vaughan Williams’s The Pilgrim’s Progress. He sang as a tenor in the first recording of the latter opera, conducted by Sir Adrian Boult