James McCray was an American operatic tenor and voice teacher.Born in Ohio, McCray served in the United States Marine Corps during the Korean War before entering the Mannes School of Music in New York City where he was a pupil of Patricia Neway. In 1962 he won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. In the Spring of 1965 he was active with the Concert Opera Association at Philharmonic Hall in NYC, singing Chekalinsky in The Queen of Spades and Francesco in the United States premiere of Hector Berlioz's Benvenuto Cellini. The following summer he appeared at the Stratford Festival of Canada as Jimmy Mahoney in Kurt Weill's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny.

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