Hadley's Life Support to be Removed After Self-Shooting

According to his spokesperson, Jerry Hadley has received the last rites of the Roman Catholic Church and life support has been removed.
 
He is not in pain and will be kept comfortable until his passing.

The acclaimed operatic tenor had been in a coma after having tragically shot himself last week. On Tuesday, July 10th, Hadley suffered apparent self-inflicted brain damage after shooting himself in the head with an air rifle at his house in Clinton Corners, New York, the New York Times had previously reported.

According to police, friends and colleagues, Hadley had previously seemed to be depressed, after having suffered a number of financial and other problems.

Hadley was raised in Manluis, IL and attended Bradley University in Peoria and later earned his master's degree in voice at the University of Illinios.  He debuted with the New York City Opera in Lucia di Lammermoor and soon appeared at Vienna State Opera, San Francisco Opera, the Royal Opera House and countless regional and international concerts.  His work with Daniel Stevens Crafts earned him an Emmy Award for the television adaptation of an original project, The Song and the Slogan, which featured the poems of Carl Sandburg set to music.

Having first debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 1987, Hadley later appeared at the Met in 1999 after creating the title role in composer John Harbison's The Great Gatsby; he last appeared as Jay Gatsby in May of 2002.  His other operatic credits included Cosi fan tutte, The Magic Flute, The Barber of Seville, The Tales of Hoffman, Faust, The Rake's Progress and the modern opera The Conquistador.  He also originated the lead tenor role in Paul McCartney's Liverpool Oratorio.

Outside of opera, Hadley's singing career included musical theatre and popular songs.  He won three Grammy Awards and appeared on recordings including Candide, Show Boat and Symphonic Sondheim: Sweeney Todd (at Carnegie Hall).  Other recent credits included Weill's The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny.