John Reed, singer long associated with the D'Oyly Carte operas

Born: 13 February, 1916, in Bishop Auckland, County Durham. Died: 13 February, 2010, in Halifax, Yorkshire, aged 94.

FOR more than 20 years he was the principal baritone of the D'Oyly Carte company, singing all those delightful roles from Ko-Ko through the Lord Chancellor to Bunthorne. John Reed succeeded the famous Peter Pratt in the roles and gave them a very personal interpretation.

Those were the days when the Gilbert and Sullivan operas were still in copyright and had to be performed very much in the traditional manner; any change of nuance or delivery was frowned upon by the management – and the legions of G&S aficionados. It was very much to Reed's credit as an artist that he kept the characters alive, individual and relevant.

But it was those difficult Gilbertian "patter songs" for which Reed will be most fondly remembered. When he delivered the Nightmare Song from Iolanthe it was always greeted with huge applause.

John Reed was the son of a butcher and the family moved to Darlington when he was 11. On leaving the local school, Reed worked as a builder, in an insurance office and, during the war, as a tool fitter and instrument-maker.

In fact, his performing career started as a dancer in north-east Scotland, where he won medals in dance competitions. He gained stage experience by performing with the Darlington Operatic Society and made his debut with the D'Oyly Carte company in 1951. He was promoted to principal on Peter Pratt's retirement in 1959. He remained in that post until 1979, although he continued to sing with the company until it was closed in 1982.

The D'Oyly Carte Company came to Scotland every year in the autumn and performed for three weeks at the King's Theatre – invariably to packed houses. The Scotsman wrote before one visit in the 1960s: "The D'Oyly Carte Company comes to Edinburgh next week and that can only mean one thing. For the umpteenth time Gilbert and Sullivan's timeless comic operas will take the city by storm."

Reed was to perform with some of the great G&S specialists – including the Edinburgh-born Ann Drummond-Grant – for many years and provided marvellous entertainment in all the comic roles of the operas. But he also captured the pathos and sadness of the Jester in Ruddigore, in which he opened the plaintive aria I Have a Song to Sing, O! with a gloomy reality.

In Edinburgh he is particularly remembered for his joyous account of Major General Stanley in The Pirates of Penzance ("the very model of a modern major-general") , The Duke of Plaza-Toro in The Gondoliers ("the unaffected, undetected, well-connected warrior") and King Gama in the rarely heard Princess Ida ("I am a most disagreeable man"). But it was Ko-Ko for which he was best known. He subtly played around with the Mikado's "little list" and cleverly introduced some reference to the Edinburgh traffic or a local event. To huge applause he then jigged off the stage and waited to do the inevitable encore.

The company toured widely abroad and Reed became a well known figure – he often performed for royalty and was involved in several private performances of the operas at Windsor Castle. Reed recorded all the G&S operas for Decca and appeared on various video recordings. He was the guest on Desert Island Discs in 1972 and was awarded an OBE in 1977.

Reed sang An Evening of Gilbert and Sullivan with the Scottish National Orchestra in June 1977 at a Proms Concert in the Usher Hall and then in Kelvin Hall, Glasgow.

After retiring from the stage, Reed moved to Halifax, where he directed the West Yorkshire Savoyards and worked as a director and teacher. He was a keen supporter of the annual Gilbert and Sullivan Festival in Buxton until failing eyesight curtailed his activities.

He was involved with the Festival from its inception in 1994 and at an early sing-along concert he surprised the audience by coming from the audience in the Buxton Opera House and delivering a matchless account of Sir Joseph Porter's song I Am the Monarch of the Seas from HMS Pinafore.

"It was just wonderful," recalled Neil Smith, the Festival's administrator. "Here was a fabled member of the great days of the Savoy operas singing – unexpectedly – one of his greatest songs. The audience just loved it. John was very supportive of the Buxton G&S Festival and he gave master classes and held discussions which fans queued to hear. He was a charming and delightful man and the most generous performer."

Reed, who died on his 94th birthday, is survived by his partner of 52 years, Nicholas Kerri.

ALASDAIR STEVEN