Famed Tenor On Life Support

American tenor Jerry Hadley suffered severe brain damage after shooting himself in the head with an air rifle outside his upstate New York home, the New York Times reports. The Grammy Award-winning opera star, 55, is on life support, and police are treating the case as an attempted suicide. Hadley's career was in decline.

In his heyday, Hadley sang leading tenor roles at major opera houses here and in Europe. In 1999, he created the title role in John Harbison's "The Great Gatsby" at the Met. But lately, friends say, Hadley had been depressed and was facing financial difficulties. He made his debut at the Met in 1987, and last performed there in '02. (More opera stories.)