His real name was Eduard Johannes Karlson. He studied voice with Armanda Degli Abbati, Aleksander Arder and Aino Tamm (a Marchesi
pupil!), and after his first two professional years went to Milan for further studies.
He sang at the Tallinn opera from 1936 to 1944, with guest performances at the Vienna Staatsoper and in Stockholm. He sang Canio,
Rodolfo, Pinkerton, Jontek, Lenskij, José, Dick Johnson, Alfredo and Cavaradossi, among others.
In 1944, he
fled from the (second) Soviet invasion of Estonia to Sweden, where he gave concerts and worked in the management of the
Stockholm opera. In 1950, he emigrated to the USA, where he taught singing in Chicago.
Reference and picture source
