  samuel edward ramey (born march 28, 1942 in colby, kansas) is an american operatic bass with a long, distinguished career.ralph blumenthal, "the devil? he's a basso whose voice is heavenly", the new york times, february 17, 1998 anthony tommasini, "an aw shucks manner, but don't be fooled: he's an absolute devil", the new york times, november 5, 1999 at the height of his career, he was greatly admired for his range and versatility, having possessed a sufficiently accomplished bel canto technique to enable him to sing the music of handel, mozart, rossini, yet power enough to handle the more overtly dramatic roles written by verdi and puccini. he married his third wife, soprano lindsey larsen, on 29 june 2002. ==early life== samuel ramey is a 1960 graduate of colby high school in colby, kansas. he studied music in high school and in college at kansas state university, as well as at wichita state with arthur newman. in college at kansas state, ramey was a member of the kappa sigma fraternity. after further study in central city (where he was in the chorus of don giovanni in 1963, with norman treigle in the title role) and as an apprentice with the santa fe opera, he went to new york where he worked for an academic publisher before he had his first breakthrough at the new york city opera, debuting on march 11, 1973 singing the role of zuniga in the 1875 bizet opera carmen, after which, among other roles, he took over the faustian devils in gounod's faust and boito's mefistofele left empty by the early death of treigle. as his repertoire expanded, he spent more and more time in the theatres of europe, notably in berlin, hamburg, london, paris, milan, vienna, and the summer festivals in aix-en-provence, glyndebourne, pesaro, and salzburg. ==later career== in january 1984, ramey made his debut at the metropolitan opera in handel's rinaldo. he has since become a fixture at the teatro alla scala, royal opera house at covent garden, vienna state opera, the paris opera, the lyric opera of chicago, the new york city opera, and the san francisco opera. in july, 198
1942_births American_basses American_opera_singers Grammy_Award-winning_artists Kansas_State_University_alumni Living_people Musicians_from_Kansas Operatic_bass-baritones Operatic_basses People_from_Thomas_County,_Kansas Roosevelt_University_faculty Wichita_State_University_alumni