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Tuesday 17 September 2013

PETER ALLEN


Peter Allen was born Peter Richard Woolnough in Tenterfield in 1944. He was the grandson of George Woolnough, whom Allen immortalised in his song "Tenterfield Saddler". He began his performing career with Chris Bell as one of the Allen Brothers, who were a popular cabaret and television act in the early 1960s in Australia. He began performing as Peter Allen around the same time. Mark Herron, the husband of Judy Garland, discovered Allen while he was performing in Hong Kong. He was invited to return with them to London and the United States, where he performed with Garland. Allen commenced releasing solo recordings in 1971, but throughout his career achieved greater success through his songs being recorded by others. He made his Broadway debut on 12 January 1971, in Soon, a rock opera that opened at the Ritz Theatre and ran for three performances.

Allen scored his biggest success with the song "I Honestly Love You", which he co-wrote with Jeff Barry, and which became a major hit in 1974 for Olivia Newton-John. Her single reached #1 in the United States and Canada and won two Grammy Awards, for Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for Newton-John. Allen also co-wrote "Don't Cry Out Loud", with Carole Bayer Sager, popularised by Melissa Manchester in 1978, and "I'd Rather Leave While I'm In Love", also co-written with Bayer Sager and popularised by Rita Coolidge in 1979.

One of his signature songs, "I Go to Rio", co-written with Adrienne Anderson, was popularised in America by the group Pablo Cruise. In 1976, Allen released an album 'Taught By Experts', which reached #11 in Australia, along with the #1 single "I Go To Rio". Although his recording career in the US never progressed, he performed in Atlantic City and Carnegie Hall. He had three extended sold-out engagements at New York City's Radio City Music Hall, where he became the first male dancer to dance with The Rockettes and rode a camel during "I Go to Rio." This performance was broadcast live and exclusively on subscription television service WHT The Movie Network. His most successful album was 'Bi-Coastal' (1980), produced by David Foster and featuring the single "Fly Away," which, in 1981, became his only US chart single, reaching #55 on the Billboard Hot 100. Allen co-wrote the song "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" with Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager, and Christopher Cross, for the 1981 movie Arthur. The song reached #1 in the US, and the songwriters won an Academy Award for Best Song.

One lyric for the song: "If you get caught between the moon and New York City" was adapted from an earlier song that he and Bayer Sager co-wrote. Allen and Bayer Sager also co-wrote "You and Me (We Wanted It All)," which was recorded by Frank Sinatra. A video of Sinatra singing the song at Carnegie Hall was included as part of the Sinatra: New York package, released in late 2009. Allen performed on Australian Television at many important occasions: in front of Queen Elizabeth II in 1980 at the Sydney Opera House, before Prince Charles and Princess Diana, once in Melbourne and again in Sydney in 1981, at the opening of the Sydney Entertainment Centre in 1983, where he unveiled for the first time his Australian "Flag" shirt, and the 1980 VFL Grand Final in Melbourne.

His Up in One Concert of 1980 was a huge ratings success across the country. When Australia won the America's Cup in 1983, he flew to Perth to sing before an audience of 100,000. In 1988, he opened for Frank Sinatra at Sanctuary Cove, Queensland. In America he appeared at the 30th Anniversary of Disneyland. He returned to recording on Arista with an album entitled "Not the Boy Next Door" (1983). In 1990 he recorded his final album on RCA Victor, 'Making Every Moment Count', which featured Melissa Manchester and Harry Connick, Jr.

One of his songs, ''I Still Call Australia Home'', became popular through its use in television commercials, initially for National Panasonic, and since 1998 for Qantas Airways. This has since become an unofficial anthem for Australians abroad.  Allen's last performance was on 26 January 1992 in Sydney. He died in San Diego, California, on 18 June 1992 from an AIDS-related throat cancer. He was cremated, and his ashes were scattered at sea.

A stage musical based on his life, titled The Boy from Oz, opened in Australia in 1998. Using his largely autobiographical songs, the production starred Todd McKenney as Allen and Christina Amphlett of the rock group Divinyls as Judy Garland. In 2003, the musical opened on Broadway, becoming the first Australian musical ever to be performed there. In this production Allen was played by Hugh Jackman, who won a Tony Award for his portrayal in 2004. Jackman performed this role again two years later when the show toured large arenas in Australia under the title The Boy from Oz: Arena Spectacular. A TV mini-series, Peter Allen: Not the Boy Next Door, was broadcast in Australia in 2015 with Joel Jackson playing the adult Allen and Ky Baldwin playing him as a youth. Supporting roles were played by Rebecca Gibney as Marion Woolnough (Allen's mother), Sarah West as Liza Minnelli and Sigrid Thornton as Judy Garland. Allen was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 1993.




SINGLES 
''Just Ask Me, I've Been There / I Love You, I Honestly Love You'' 1975 A&M 
''She Loves To Hear The Music / Shy As A Violet'' 1975 A&M 
''The More I See You / This Time Around'' 1976 A&M 
''The More I See You (#80) / I Love You, I Honestly Love You'' 1976 A&M 
''I Go To Rio (#1) / This Time Around'' 1977 A&M 
''Tenterfield Saddler / Don't Cry Out Loud'' 1978 A&M 
''Don't Wish Too Hard / We've Come To An Understanding'' 1979 A&M 
''I Could Have Been A Sailor / Tenterfield Saddler'' 1980 A&M 
''I Still Call Australia Home (#72) / I Still Call Australia Home [Instrumental]'' 1980 A&M 
''Bi-Coastal (#78) / Simon'' 1980 A&M 
''One Step Over The Borderline / I Could Really Show You Around'' 1981 A&M 
''You Haven't Heard The Last Of Me / Fade To Black'' 1983 Arista 
''Not The Boy Next Door (Edited Version) (#76) / Easy On The Weekend'' 1983 Arista 

ALBUMS 
'Peter Allen' 1971 Metromedia Records, 
'Taught By Experts' (#11) 1976 A&M
'Continental American' (#87) 1977 A&M
'It Is Time For Peter Allen' 1977 A&M 
'Tenterfield Saddler' (#95) 1978 A&M 
'I Could Have Been A Sailor' (#69) 1979 A&M 
'Bi-Coastal' (#55) 1980 A&M
'Not The Boy Next Door' (#36) 1983 Arista
'Making Every Moment Count' 1990 RCA





References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Allen_(musician)

http://top100singles.blogspot.com.au/


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