James Lee Fankhauser (born August 1939 in Lyons, Kansas) is an American conductor, tenor, and educator who is primarily known for his work within the field of choral music in Canada. Fankhauser began his professional studies at Purdue in 1957 where he studied engineering. He entered the music program at Southwestern College in his native Kansas in the Fall of 1958 and transferred after two years to the Oberlin Conservatory of Music where he obtained a Bachelor of Music in 1962. He was awarded a Fulbright Grant which enabled him to pursue graduate studies in vocal performance in London at the Royal Academy of Music and choral conducting with Sir David Lumsden at New College, University of Oxford in 1962-1963.