Kelsey Pharr

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Kelsey Pharr (January 10, 1917 – April 20, 1961) was an American rhythm and blues singer best known as a member of the Delta Rhythm Boys. He was born in Miami, the son of Kelsey Leroy Pharr, a mortician active in civil rights. He grew up in Washington, DC, where he attended Dunbar High School, served as Colonel of the Cadet Corps, and graduated as valedictorian. He studied at Northwestern University, becoming the first Afro-American man to appear in a university drama production there, and he also acted in Chicago and on Broadway in Porgy and Bess. Pharr joined the Delta Rhythm Boys as a baritone, and the group performed across Europe, Japan, and Hawaii, helping bring Black music to places like Miami Beach. He was known as "Miami's pride and joy" and was openly gay. While touring in Sweden, he befriended boxer Ingemar Johansson. On January 21, 1941, he married Mabel Mercer to help her obtain a passport to return to the United States; the marriage was arranged by Mercer’s partner, Joe Carstairs. In 1960, while in Madrid, he learned he had cancer and had major surgery in Paris. After spending Christmas in Miami with his father, he worked in Japan, then returned to Honolulu, Hawaii, where he died on April 20, 1961.