[1] His first experience of a staged work was Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado, the opera with which he also chose to end his career in 2004.
He sang in Lucia di Lammermoor, Il trovatore and Norma with Dame Joan Sutherland, La bohème with Luciano Pavarotti, and Banquo in Macbeth with Sherrill Milnes.
[2] Other roles he became associated with were Zaccharia in Nabucco, Rocco in Fidelio, Osmin in The Abduction from the Seraglio, Boris in Boris Godunov, Timur in Turandot, Ramphis in Aida, Pistol in Falstaff, Kekal in The Bartered Bride, Baron Ochs in Der Rosenkavalier, Nourabad in The Pearl Fishers, the Commendatore in Don Giovanni, and a major role in Leoš Janáček's The Cunning Little Vixen.
[4] He died on 8 April 2011 at his home in Frenchs Forest, aged 70, of a heart attack; his memorial service was held in St Andrew's Anglican Church, Roseville.
[2][5] He is survived by his wife Pamela, née Moffatt, whom he married in 1964; two sons Murray and Jonathan, both Baptist ministers; and eight grandchildren.