This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Nov. 16, 2011 - Growing up in north St. Louis, Jermaine Smith was surrounded by pimps and drug dealers. Not just in the neighborhood -- in his own home. The concept of singing opera was about as foreign as going to Paris. But now he does both.
The seeds of Smith's unlikely operatic career were planted at Roosevelt High School, where his music teacher strongly encouraged (ahem ... blackmailed?) him into Opera Theatre St. Louis' Artist in Training program.
When he was 25, Smith starred in Opera Theatre's world premiere of "Joshua's Boots," the cowboy tale of a late 19th-century black teenager who leaves Missouri for Dodge City after a lynch mob kills his father. The opera has been revived for several school performances and one public production this Friday at the Touhill.
Since his "Joshua's Boots" days, Smith's career has included traveling the world in the role of Sporting Life in "Porgy and Bess." Smith, 37, is also on staff at Harris-Stowe University, is a teaching artist with Stages St. Louis and volunteers as vocal instructor for his church's choirs. The New England Conservatory of Music alumnus also mentors two teenage boys as he and his wife raise their own, ages 8 and 10.
Smith talked with the Beacon about the changed course of his life and how he pays it forward.
How did your music teacher convince you to try out for Opera Theatre's Artist in Training program?
Smith: I said I didn't want to do this program because I thought he should use solo singers. "I'm just your drummer and I sing background now and then," I told him, and he said, "No, I want you to do this." Then: "Your grade depends on this."
And that's when I said, "I'm going to do this." My grades were very important to me -- I was in the top of my class. And lo and behold, it changed my life.
How has your life been different than you ever imagined as a boy?
Smith: I grew up literally in the ghetto, living with my cousins who were pimps and drug dealers. At any time, I could have been mistaken for them and my life could have been taken.
One of my major supports was my pastor. Not having a father in my life, he really became a father figure and a mentor. I've been with him since I was around 13.
I am the first to graduate from college in my family, which was a major ordeal. Some of my cousins -- I think because of jealousy -- pulled guns on me and threatened me. They would ask me to sing Luther Vandross and then make fun of me. I was an opera singer, singing R and B in a classical voice. It just came out that way.
But once I got my first contract for performing in Paris, they started seeing how serious it was, and eventually they all started to respect what I do.
What's it like to work now with young singers?
Smith: I work with the preparatory Artist in Training for kids who auditioned for the AIT program but didn't make it -- maybe they were a little rough in some areas or missing a little something. Then, they audition again the next year.
A couple of years back, there was a girl who said, "I can't sing this stuff; I can't make my voice do that." For the concert I put together for the kids, her family had dressed her in a gown like she was going to a prom or a wedding, and they all came to see her. After the program, she came up to me and said, "Mr. Smith, I'm going to be an opera singer -- that's my new career."
Where and why do you tell your own story to young people?
Smith: I go to high schools and historically black colleges, and I come in with my dreadlocks and all of a sudden I'm singing classical music -- it's kind of alarming. But by the end of my program, they've gained a respect.
It's important for them to hear my story because it's a story of an inner vision that can be made live in them. Something may come easy to you; those things are your gift.
People may have gifts but because of their environment and their community, they get smothered, because if you're not doing what everybody else is doing, you're not part of that community. My story points out that they can step outside their box.
What's the value of taking that first step outside your comfort zone?
Smith: Once your horizons have been broadened, it's hard to go back. My story is that if you step outside your box, you will see that you are more than you think you are.
