Edward Johnson, musician, impresario and educator, was born and died in Guelph. After initial successes on Broadway, he went to Italy to study and emerged as one of the distinguished tenors of a generation that also produced Caruso, Gigli and Martinelli. He sang for 23 years in the leading opera houses of the world before becoming General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera Company (1935-50). During his tenure in New York, and after his retirement and return to Canada, Edward Johnson worked to make opera a popular art on this continent, and to develop North American singers.