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Sings The Songs Of Andrew Lloyd Webber
''Sings the Songs of Andrew Lloyd Webber'' is a studio album by Shirley Bassey, released in 1993. This album saw Bassey briefly return to her old label EMI (which also owns her United Artists recordings); the album was issued by EMI on the Music For Pleasure Premier label. All songs on this album were composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber. This is the first, and to date the only ''Songbook'' album that Bassey has recorded and released. In her early recording career she had recorded many songs from the Great American Songbook, but unlike Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and many other artists, she had never recorded a complete album of songs by one composer. The songs on the album are all taken from the popular musicals of Andrew Lloyd Webber, that he wrote with various lyricists. The oldest song found on the album is from the 1971 musical ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' which originally opened on Broadway in October of that year. Bringing it up to date the album also includes two songs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shirley Bassey
Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey (; born 8 January 1937) is a Welsh singer. Best known for her career longevity, powerful voice and recording the theme songs to three James Bond films, Bassey is widely regarded as one of the most popular vocalists in Britain. Born in Cardiff, Bassey began performing as a teenager in 1953. In 1959, she became the first Welsh person to gain a number-one single on the UK Singles Chart. In the following decades, Bassey amassed 27 Top 40 hits in the UK, including two number-ones. She became well-known for recording the soundtrack theme songs of the James Bond films '' Goldfinger'' (1964), '' Diamonds Are Forever'' (1971), and '' Moonraker'' (1979). In 2020, Bassey became the first female artist to chart an album in the Top 40 of the UK Albums Chart in seven consecutive decades with her album ''I Owe It All To You''. Bassey has also had numerous BBC television specials, and she hosted her own variety series, '' Shirley Bassey''. In 2011, BBC aired the t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don't Cry For Me Argentina
"Don't Cry for Me Argentina" is a song recorded by Julie Covington for the 1976 concept album ''Evita'', later included in the 1978 musical of the same name. The song was written and composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice while they were researching the life of Argentine leader Eva Perón. It appears at the opening of the first and second acts, as well as near the end of the show, initially as the spirit of the dead Eva exhorting the people of Argentina not to mourn her, during Eva's speech from the balcony of the Casa Rosada, and during her final broadcast. The ''Evita'' album had taken 3–4 months to record, since Rice was not satisfied with the intensity of the initial recordings. The song had a number of different titles before "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" was chosen as the final one. The song shares its melody with "Oh What a Circus" from the same show and lyrically consists of platitudes where Eva tries to win the favour of the people of Argentina. It was released ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I Don't Know How To Love Him
"I Don't Know How to Love Him" is a song from the 1970 album and 1971 rock opera ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' written by Andrew Lloyd Webber (music) and Tim Rice (lyrics), a torch ballad sung by the character of Mary Magdalene. In the opera she is presented as bearing an unrequited love for the title character. The song has been much recorded, with "I Don't Know How to Love Him" being one of the rare songs to have had two concurrent recordings reach the top 40 of the Hot 100 chart in ''Billboard'' magazine, specifically those by Helen Reddy and Yvonne Elliman, since the 1950s when multi-version chartings were common. Composition/original recording (Yvonne Elliman) "I Don't Know How to Love Him" had originally been published with different lyrics in the autumn of 1967, the original title being "Kansas Morning". The melody's main theme has come under some scrutiny for being non-original, being compared to a theme from Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E Minor. In December 196 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Phantom Of The Opera (1986 Musical)
''The Phantom of the Opera'' is a musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Charles Hart, and a libretto by Lloyd Webber and Richard Stilgoe. Based on the 1910 French novel of the same name by Gaston Leroux, it tells the story of a beautiful soprano, Christine Daaé, who becomes the obsession of a mysterious, masked musical genius living in the subterranean labyrinth beneath the Paris Opéra House. The musical opened in London's West End in 1986 and on Broadway in New York in 1988, in a production directed by Harold Prince and starring English classical soprano Sarah Brightman (Lloyd Webber's then-wife) as Christine Daaé, and Michael Crawford as the Phantom. It won the 1986 Olivier Award and the 1988 Tony Award for Best Musical, with Crawford winning the Olivier and Tony for Best Actor in a Musical. A film adaptation, directed by Joel Schumacher, was released in 2004. ''Phantom'' is currently the longest running show in Broadway history, and celebrated its 10,0 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Hart (lyricist)
Charles Hart is an English lyricist, librettist and songwriter best known for his work on ''The Phantom of the Opera'' as well as a number of other musicals and operas for both stage and television. Life and Works Hart was born in London in 1961, the son of George Wilson Hart, an antiquarian book dealer, and Juliet Lavinia Hart (née Byam Shaw), actress. His maternal grand-parents, Glen Byam Shaw and Angela Baddeley, were actively working in theatre and music throughout his childhood. Hart began writing lyrics as a child, some of which were "dark and contemplative – precociously murderous and quite, quite feisty".Morley, Sheridan, Interview with Charles Hart, ''The Times'', 8 October 1986 He went to school in Maidenhead over the same period when his grandmother was starring in a London stage production of Stephen Sondheim's ''A Little Night Music''. Hart went on to study music at Robinson College, Cambridge, followed by postgraduate studies at the Guildhall School of Music and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Starlight Express
''Starlight Express'' is a 1984 British musical, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Richard Stilgoe. It tells the story of a young but obsolete steam engine, Rusty, who races in a championship against modern engines in the hope of impressing a first-class observation car, Pearl. Famously, the actors perform on roller skates. ''Starlight Express'' is the ninth-longest-running West End show and the most successful musical in Germany, where it has been performed in a purpose-built theatre since 1988, holding the Guinness World Record for most visitors to a musical in a single theatre. Background ''Starlight Express'' has its roots in three abandoned projects: an animated TV series based on Thomas the Tank Engine, a novelty pop single, and an animated film based on Cinderella. In 1974, Lloyd Webber approached author Reverend W. Awdry about adapting Awdry's Thomas the Tank Engine stories as an animated TV series. Following the meeting, Lloyd Webber started composin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Stilgoe
Sir Richard Henry Simpson Stilgoe (born 28 March 1943) is a British songwriter, lyricist and musician, and broadcaster who is best known for his humorous songs and frequent television appearances. His output includes collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber and Peter Skellern. He is also a keen puzzler who has hosted several quiz shows and written several books on the subject. Stilgoe is also notable for his charity work and fundraising. In the 1980s he founded the Alchemy Foundation which is funded from his royalties from the American productions of ''Starlight Express'' and '' The Phantom of the Opera''. He is patron of the Surrey Care Trust in Woking. In the late 1990s he founded the Orpheus Centre which offers performing arts experiences to young people with disabilities. In 2012, Stilgoe was knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours for his extensive charity work. Early life Stilgoe was born in Camberley, Surrey, on 28 March 1943. He was brought up in Liverpool, where, as l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Starlight Express (song)
"Starlight Express" is the 'showstopper' number from the musical ''Starlight Express''. In the show, it is performed by Rusty, the show's protagonist. Before the song, he has been told by the old steam engine Poppa of a magical locomotive, named the Starlight Express, who will aid him in need. The song has been rewritten in many languages, but it has always kept the same title, apart from when the production opened in Mexico, when both the show and the song were renamed ''Expreso Astral''. Music and lyrics The music was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber, in the key of E flat major, modulating to E major at the instrumental. In the Broadway production, Greg Mowry sings the song in the key of G major and modulates to Ab. The lyrics were written by Richard Stilgoe. ::''Starlight Express, Starlight Express'' ::''Are you real? Yes or no?'' ::''Starlight Express, Answer me yes!'' ::''I don't want you to go'' Before the song starts, Poppa and Rusty have the following (sung) conversation; ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cats (musical)
''Cats'' is a sung-through musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based upon the 1939 poetry collection ''Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats'' by T. S. Eliot. It tells the story of a tribe of cats called the Jellicles and the night they make the "Jellicle choice" by deciding which cat will ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new life. As of 2022, ''Cats'' remains the fourth-longest-running Broadway show and the seventh-longest-running West End show. Lloyd Webber began setting Eliot's poems to music in 1977, and the compositions were first presented as a song cycle in 1980. Producer Cameron Mackintosh then recruited director Trevor Nunn and choreographer Gillian Lynne to turn the songs into a complete musical. ''Cats'' opened to positive reviews at the New London Theatre in the West End in 1981 and then to mixed reviews at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway in 1982. It won numerous awards including Best Musical at both the Laurence Olivier and Tony Awards ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trevor Nunn
Sir Trevor Robert Nunn (born 14 January 1940) is a British theatre director. He has been the Artistic Director for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, and, currently, the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. He has directed dramas for the stage, like ''Macbeth'', as well as opera and musicals, such as '' Cats'' (1981) and ''Les Misérables'' (1985). Nunn has been nominated for the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical, the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play, the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director, and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical, winning Tonys for ''Cats'', ''Les Misérables'', and ''Nicholas Nickleby'' and the Olivier Awards for productions of ''Summerfolk'', ''The Merchant of Venice'', ''Troilus and Cressida'', and ''Nicholas Nickleby''. In 2008 ''The Telegraph'' named him among the most influential people in British culture. He has also directed works for film and television. Early years Nunn was born in Ipswich, E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts Company (OCC) on Fridays (previously Sundays). It is broadcast on BBC Radio 1 (top 5) and found on the OCC website as a Top 100 or on UKChartsPlus as a Top 200, with positions continuing until all sales have been tracked in data only available to industry insiders. However, even though number 100 was classed as a hit album (as in the case of The Guinness Book of British Hit Albums) in the 1980s until January 1989, since the compilations were removed this definition was changed to Top 75 with follow-up books such as The Virgin Book of British Hit Albums book only including this data. As of 2021, the OCC still only tracks how many UK Top 75s album hits and how many weeks in Top 75 albums chart each artist has achieved. To qualify for the Offi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Keep The Music Playing (Shirley Bassey Album)
''Keep the Music Playing'' is a 1991 album by Shirley Bassey. The album was recorded in the UK at the Westgreen Studios and in the Netherlands at Wisseloord Studios, Hilversum. The album is a mixture of contemporary pop ballads, such as "I Want to Know What Love Is" from Foreigner, the Jennifer Rush power ballad "The Power of Love", and the more gentle "Still" from Lionel Richie, combined with standards from the field of jazz and pop, such as "He Was Beautiful", the sweet jazz ballad from Cleo Laine. Several of the song arrangements reflect an operatic pop style influence, which may have roots in her 1984 album '' I Am What I Am'', which she recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra, and the fact that in the latter mid-1980s she started working with a vocal coach, a former opera singer. Bassey returned to the Beatles with "Yesterday", as she had previously covered "Something" and "Fool on the Hill" successfully in the 1970s, and had performed "Hey Jude" frequently live. Anothe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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