The Jubilee Singers, now totalling eleven members, sailed for England in April, 1873. The plan of going abroad to raise money for the construction of Jubilee Hall had been considered for some time. Several officers of the American Missionary Association had gone to England to study the situation and believed that a tour would be a successful undertaking.

Under the sponsorship of the Earl of Shaftsbury, the singers first appeared at the Willis' Rooms in London, one of the most aristocratic concert halls in the city. Reviewing a performance, the city's Tonic Sal-Fa Reporter said:

The singers walk quietly on the platform and fill their row of chairs at the back, on gentleman bowing as he takes his seat in response to applause of the assembly. They are not so black as we expected, and are not dressed in the gay colors which are falsely supposed to distinguish the Negro taste. They are simply eleven young Christian ladies and gentlemen... Their first song "Steal Away to Jesus" was sung slowly. The first chords came floating on our senses like gentle fairy music and they were delivered with exquisite precision of time and accent.

Their second appearance was at Argyle Lodge where they sang by invitation of the Duke and Duchess of Argyle. Queen Victoria drove from Buckingham Palace to hear the singers. They sang "Steal Away to Jesus," then chanted the Lord's Prayer and ended the performance with "Go Down Moses." The Queen wept and said she had not been comforted by anything so much since the death of her husband. She invited the group to her court, where they were painted by the Queen's court painter, Edmund Havel. The portrait hangs in Fisk's Jubilee Hall today.

After touring London, arrangements were made for the singers to go to Scotland, Wales and Ireland. In Glasgow and Edinburgh, 7500 workmen gathered to hear them sing at a "Praise Meeting." They sang in hospitals, prisons and the streets; they sang to thousands of the poor; to tens of thousands in concert halls and out-of-doors. The singers dined with many dignitaries, visited religious and secular societies and received personal gifts of books and sums of money for the school library. Concerts in Scotland sometimes earned $1000 per night, and the reception in Wales and Ireland was equally enthusiastic.

The singers returned to Nashville on May 27, 1874. During the European tour they raised nearly $50,000 for the construction of Jubilee Hall.

Since the university was growing, more funds were needed. Arrangements were made for the singers to once again tour the North. Plans were also made for another foreign tour. During the winter of 1874 and the spring of 1875 they toured several northern states. On May 15, 1875, they sailed for England. They reached London on May 31 just in time to attend the annual meeting of the Freedmen's Aid Society in City Temple. Lord Shaftsbury, who had great difficulty reaching the podium because the upper and lower halls, the corridors and the streets were packed with people wanting to see the Jubilee Singers, welcomed their return with joy. After a year in London, the singers went to Scotland and Ireland.

In October 1877, the singers arrived in Germany. They received invitations to dinners, receptions and met many of the elite of Germany. They were invited to appear before the Crown Prince and Princess at the "New Palace." The Crown Princess, daughter of Queen Victoria, and the royal family listened and wept as the singers sang "I've Been Redeemed," "Steal Away to Jesus," and "Nobody Knows the Trouble I See."

After eight months in Germany, most of the singers were ready to return home. They had been away for three years, many had become ill, and monetary returns were becoming smaller because both Great Britain and Germany were experiencing hard financial times. Some of the singers stayed to study, while others returned to Fisk in July, 1878.

A total of $150,000 was raised by the Jubilee singers during the seven years they performed. They sacrificed their own education (none of the original singers graduated, but America Robinson, a member of a later group, graduated with the first class in 1875) so that others might be educated. They introduced the "slave songs" to the world. George L. White composed a special anthem for the singers and in his dedication he summed up their story: "To the Jubilee Singers who went forth with weeping, bearing the precious seed of touching songs wrung by ages of oppression from the hearts of an imaginative race, and who now return with joy, bringing their sheaves with them."