Robert McFerrin (father of singer Bobby McFerrin) is 82. “In 1955, McFerrin became the first black man to be signed to New York’s Metropolitan Opera. He also performed the songs for a lip-synching Sidney Poitier in the 1959 MGM classic ‘Porgy and Bess’. He was honored June 18 in St. Louis with a lifetime achievement award from Opera America.”