Hayes (Roland) is born in Curryville, Georgia.

The son of former enslaved parents, Roland Hayes grows up singing Negro spirituals, studies in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and attends Fisk University in Nashville. He comes to Boston in the 1915 on a tour with the Fisk University chorus, but stays behind, living initially on Westminster Street. Hayes launches his singing career in November 1915,* first performs with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1917,* and becomes a world-class tenor and one of the first African-American singers to perform with major symphony orchestras. He moves to Brookline in 1925, teaches at Boston University, and continues to perform until 1972. Hayes dies in Boston on January 1, 1977, and is buried in Mount Hope Cemetery. A play based on his life premieres in 2013.*