Uppman, born in San Jose, California, studied at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, and made his New York City Opera debut in 1948 in the role of Pell_as in a concert performance of Debussy's Pell_as and M_lisande.

In 1951, discouraged with his career, Uppman took a job with a California oil and fuel company, where he worked until he was invited to audition for the role of Billy Budd in Covent Garden's premiere of the opera.

He later repeated the role for broadcast on NBC.

In 1953, Uppman again sang Pell_as, this time for his Metropolitan Opera debut, and later sang such roles as Papageno in Mozart's The Magic Flute, Piquillo in Offenbach's La P_richole, and Harlequin in Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos. Altogether, he gave nearly 400 performances with the Met.