About this Artist

• Biography

About This Item

Paul Robeson was one of the towering figures of the 20th Century. In his youth he was an outstanding athlete and Phi Beta Kappa scholar, and he then went on to achieve fame as an actor, singer, recording artist, and film star. Later in life he espoused a number of political causes, including the civil rights movement, and fought passionately for the betterment of all people around the globe. His controversial support of Soviet Russia at the height of the Cold War put him at odds with the US government, and in the 1950s Robeson was shunned by TV, radio, and concert stages, and was forbidden to travel outside of the United States. This government-imposed silence has meant that many younger listeners aren’t familiar with Robeson or his remarkable legacy, including his criminally neglected recordings.

EMI Classics is now proud to release a 7-CD boxed set of the complete recordings Robeson did for the label, a collection of 170 songs as important historically as it is musically. The material contained in this set is a testament to his diverse and uniformly outstanding talent, ranging from spirituals to show tunes to British folk songs to classical and art songs. Each piece in this remarkably varied repertoire gains new layers of meaning thanks to Robeson’s profound bass, and his sensitive, expressive phrasing. The sense of struggle and triumph is palpable in songs such as “Shenandoah,” “Summertime,” “Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes,” and “Ol’ Man River” (Robeson’s signature song, of which there are three different versions here).

Many of the songs in this set are appearing for the first time on CD, and all have been newly transferred and digitally re-mastered at the legendary Abbey Road Studios (the set also includes the first published recording from the studio). From the Label

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