Cycowski was a singer of opera and popular music in Europe, and a cantor in the United States.
Cycowski born into a Hasidic family in Lodz, Cycowski's early musical training came as a choirboy (meshorer). He moved to Germany in 1921 to become an opera singer and joined the popular vocal sextet, the Comedian Harmonists in 1927. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1941 and served as a cantor in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Palm Springs.
See "Oral history interview with Josef (Roman) Cycowski" detailing his life, in Milken Archive.