Martha Sykes

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Martha Moore Sykes (born in Bessemer) is a former opera singer and producer and public relations director at her own firm and, later, for AmSouth Bank.

Sykes grew up in Bessemer, attending the Arlington School. She went on to college at Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Virginia where she studied music and mathematics, concentrating on vocal performance. After graduating in 1947 she continued her music education at the Julliard School in New York City. She then began her performing careeer in traveling productions of Broadway shows.

She and her husband, Nelson Sykes, founded the "Punch" opera company at the Cherry Lane Theatre in Greenwich Village. When it was acquired by the New York City Opera, she began working at her husband's public relations firm. She continued to be active in the arts and served as President of the New York Opera Guild. After their divorce, he left their firm and she rose to become a partner. The firm was acquired by Ogilvie & Mather in the early 1970s and she became the head of the combined company's public relations department.

In 1984 Sykes accepted an offer to become Vice President of Marketing and Communications at AmSouth Bank. While there she worked with the Board of Directors to initiate the creation of the Birmingham Broadway Series in 1990. She retired from AmSouth year later, working primarily with the new Broadway group, helping shepherd it out of disappointing seasons and grow to become a major player in Birmingham's cultural scene. She also served on the boards of Opera Birmingham, Alabama Operaworks and the Birmingham Festival of Arts.

Sykes has also been involved in restorations of the Arlington School and the Virginia Samford Theatre. The theater's "black box" stage is named in her honor. She endowed the Martha Moore Sykes Fund for the Arts through the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham in 2006.

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