Spanish (Catalan) tenor Jaume Aragall y Garriga (Giacomo was the Italianized name for the stage) was born in Barcelona on 6 June 1939. When he was 9 he entered the choir of the church of Santa María del Mar in Barcelona and at the age of 19 he commenced vocal studies with Jaime Francisco Puig (who also taught Carreras a few years later). In the 1961-62 season he made his professional debut at the Liceo of Barcelona in the comprimario roles of Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor (January) and Arlequino in Pagliacci. Shortly after he came 2nd in an international singing contest in Bilbao, Spain.

With a scholarship from the Teatro Liceu, he went to Milano on a study course with Maestro Vladimir Badiali and immediately won the singing contest Voci Verdiani in Busseto, which led to his debut in lead role at La Fenice in Venezia on 24 September 1963, in Verdi's Gerusalemme (I Lombardi), where he sang the role of Gastone. He performed the same role in Palermo before making his La Scala debut as Fritz in L'Amico Fritz in December 1963, and also sang the role of Il Cavaliere in Paul Hindemith's opera Cardillac, in January 1964 and Rodolfo in La Boheme in April.

In the 1964-65 season he returned to Barcelona and the Liceu for La Boheme, and he performed in quick succession at theatres in Budapest, Venecia, Genova, Palermo, Parma, Modena, Napoli, Roma and Torino. In March 1966 he participated in a memorable performance of Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi at La Scala, where he sang the part of Romeo opposite Renata Scotto and Luciano Pavarotti, Claudio Abbado conducting. It was the first Romeo that had been cast for a tenor, written as it was for a mezzo.

Within 3 years of his debut, Aragall had performed in the most important theaters in Italy, and had sung in Budapest, in München, in Berlin, Hamburg and Amsterdam, besides the Liceu on home ground. In 1966 he debuted at the Wiener Staatsoper in La Boheme and received clamorous acclaim at the festivals of Wexford and Edinburgh in the same year, and in 1967 he sang in Rigoletto at Covent Garden. In October the same year he inaugurated the new Teatro Reale of Madrid and in 1968 he debuted at the Met in New York as the Duke in Rigoletto. By 1970 he had included the Colon in Buenos Aires, yet again performing in La Boheme. In 1972 he participated in the premiere of the forgotten Donzitti opera Caterina Cornaro at the Teatro San Carlo di Napoli.

During the 1970s he sang frequently at German and French theatres, counting Paris, Marseille, Orange, Nice, Avignon, and Berlin, Hamburg, München, Köln and Dusseldorf. He also sang in Wien, Bruxelles, Geneve, Praha, Santiago de Chile, Chicago, Washington and Tokyo. On home turf, the Liceu of Barcelona, he sang in more than 100 performances, operas which included La Boheme, Lucia di Lammermoor, Madama Butterfly, La Favorita, Rigoletto, La Traviata, Werther, Caterina Cornaro (Donizetti), Faust, Tosca, Manon, Don Carlo, Adriana Lecouvreur, Un Ballo in Maschera and Simon Boccanegra.

Among his many Honours, mention should be given to the Medalla de Oro del Gran Teatro del Liceo, honours from Covent Garden and San Francisco, Kammersänger at the Wien Staatsoper (1989), Medalla de Oro del Conservatorio del Liceo and Doctor "Honoris Causa" at the University of Girona (1996).

Perhaps one of the finest and most beautiful voices to have come out of Spain the last 50 years, a certain shyness to media coverage and stage fright may have limited the career of Aragall. Widely recognized among his colleagues for his impeccable style and easyness of emission, the genreal public seem less familiar with the Spanish tenor and today he is grossly bypassed.

It is often said that Aragall did not record well. There exist numerous recitals on disc, and four quite commercial recordings for Decca that stand out, even though perhaps not his best: La Traviata in 1968 under Lorin Maazel and with Pilar Lorengar as Violetta and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau as Germont; Tosca under Solti and with Te Kanawa and Nucci; Lucrezia Borgia with Sutherland under Bonynge; and Simon Boccanegra under Solti, with Te Kanawa and Nucci.

At the age of 63, Aragall still performs in recitals, but his main occupation nowadays is vocal tuition, and since 1991 he has hosted an annual singing course within the International Festival of Torroella de Montgrí, and since 1994 the Concurso Internacional de Canto Jaume Aragall, first in Torroella de Montgrí, then from 1999 in Girona.