John Sims Reeves (21 October 1821[1] – 25 October 1900) was an English operatic, oratorio and ballad tenor vocalist during the mid-Victorian era.
Reeves began his singing career in 1838 but continued his vocal studies until 1847. He soon established himself on the opera and concert stage and became known for his interpretation of ballads. He continued singing through the 1880s and later taught and wrote about singing.
- ^ Date thus in Reeves, The Life of J. Sims Reeves, Written by Himself (1888), p. 15: see also Reeves, My Jubilee (1889), p. 20, 'In 1839, when I had just entered upon my eighteenth year...' (i.e., his 17th birthday was in October 1838). But C. E. Pearce, in Sims Reeves – Fifty Years of Music in England pp. 17–18, (followed by most) shows a Woolwich parish baptism record (not birth) for 26 September 1818, of one John Reeves. If that was really the singer, that makes Reeves' and his oldest friends' statements unreliable, and postpones his voice breaking to age 16 against his direct statement this occurred age 12 (ibid. p. 20). John Reeves (1818) was possibly a sibling deceased before 1821.