Vickers' huge, powerful voice and solid technique met the demands of many French, German, and Italian roles.

[8] He appeared at the Met for a period of 27 years in 280 performances of 17 roles, including Florestan in Fidelio, Siegmund in Wagner's Die Walküre, Don Jose in Bizet's Carmen, Radamès in Aida, Erik in Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer, Herman in Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades, Samson in both Handel's oratorio and Saint-Saëns' Samson et Dalila, the title role of Verdi's Otello, Don Alvaro in Verdi's La forza del destino, Peter Grimes, Tristan und Isolde, Laca in Janáček's Jenůfa, Vasek in Smetana's The Bartered Bride, and the title role in Wagner's Parsifal, giving his farewell in 1987.

[8] Among Vickers' more notable recordings were Tristan und Isolde in 1972 with Herbert von Karajan (Vickers became one of Karajan's favourite singers at the lavish Salzburg Easter and Summer Festivals in Der Ring des Nibelungen, Carmen, Otello, Fidelio as well as Tristan und Isolde), Les Troyens, singing the part of Énée (Aeneas), with Sir Colin Davis in 1969,[9][10][11] and a legendary and controversial 1959 recording of Handel's Messiah with Sir Thomas Beecham.

[11][12][13] Although scheduled to sing Tannhäuser at Covent Garden in the late 1970s, Vickers dropped out, claiming he could not empathize with the character,[14] and that the opera itself was blasphemous in nature.

[6][15] He sang Nerone in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea at the Paris Opéra, and Alvaro in La forza del destino at the Met (1975).

His roles also included Don Carlos, Andrea Chenier, Herod in Salome, Giasone in Medea (with Maria Callas in the title role), Pollione in Norma[11] and rarely heard parts such as Cellini in Berlioz's Benvenuto Cellini,[16] Ratan-Sen in Roussel's Padmavati and Sergei in Shostakovitch's Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District.

[20] Vickers was born into the musical family of William, a teacher and school principal, and Myrle (née Mossop).