Peter Allen (musician)

Allen (seated) and Chris Bell as the Allen Brothers, 1967

Allen was born Peter Richard Woolnough to Richard, a soldier and later a grocer, and Marion Woolnough in Tenterfield, New South Wales, a small Australian country town where his grandfather, George Woolnough, worked as a saddler. He had one sibling, a younger sister named Lynne. Peter grew up in nearby Armidale, and lived there from about six weeks of age until the age of 14. This is also where he first learned piano and dance. His father Richard became a violent alcoholic after returning from World War II.[6] He committed suicide by gunshot when Peter was 14.[7] George never understood or got over this devastating event. Soon after this the family moved to Lismore to live. This tale is told in the 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. In 1964, Mark Herron, the husband of Judy Garland, discovered the Allen Brothers while they were performing in Hong Kong. They became Judy Garland's opening act when she toured. Charmed by Peter, Judy served as matchmaker between him and her daughter, Liza Minnelli. The Allen Brothers act broke up in 1970.[8]

Allen commenced releasing solo recordings in 1971, but throughout his career achieved greater success through his songs being recorded by others. He 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 number one 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, popularized by Melissa Manchester in 1978, and "I'd Rather Leave While I'm in Love", also co-written with Bayer Sager and popularized by Rita Coolidge in 1979. One of his signature songs, "I Go to Rio", co-written with Adrienne Anderson, was popularized in America by the group Pablo Cruise.

In 1976, Allen released an album, Taught by Experts, which reached number one in Australia, along with the number one single "I Go to Rio" and the Top 10 hit "The More I See You". The album also included the song "Quiet Please, There's A Lady On Stage" which was recorded by many artists including Jack Jones and Dusty Springfield. Although his recording career in the US never progressed, he performed in Atlantic City and at 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".[9] This performance was broadcast live and exclusively on subscription television service WHT The Movie Network.[10]

Allen's 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 No. 55 on the Billboard Hot 100. In addition, Allen co-wrote the Patti LaBelle hit "I Don't Go Shopping", which reached the top 30 on the R&B chart in 1980.

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 film Arthur. The song reached number one 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 for 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 big 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. The song "Making Every Moment Count", a duet with Manchester, was co-written by Seth Swirsky, who also produced a number of songs he co-wrote with Allen, including Allen's last-released single, "Tonight You Made My Day".

One of his songs, '"I Still Call Australia Home", became popular through its use in television commercials, initially for National Panasonic and, since 1987, for Qantas Airways.[11][12]

Allen married Liza Minnelli in 1967; they were divorced in 1974.[9]

He became more comfortable with his homosexuality in the early 1970s. In 1974, Peter met Gregory Connell through a mutual friend in New York City. According to Allen's biographer Stephen MacLean, Greg was "Peter's big love".[15] Connell, a fashion model originally from Texas, attracted major clients such as Coca-Cola and did other lucrative print ads.[16] After they got together, Greg gave up his modeling career to support Peter's music career by becoming his tour manager, roadie, a sound and lighting designer for Allen's shows, and sang backup on his 1976 song, "I Go to Rio".[17] [18] Connell died from an AIDS-related illness on 11 September 1984, at their home in Leucadia, California.[19] Though Peter wrote "Once Before I Go" for good friend Ann-Margret to perform at her concerts, it was the song he related most to Greg, especially the lyrics, "You are the light that shines on me, You always were and you'll always be,"[20] since he worked behind the lights at all of Allen's shows.[21] After Greg's death, Peter poured himself even more into his work. He spent several years getting his musical Legs Diamond on Broadway (it premiered in 1988), recorded his final album Making Every Moment Count in 1990, and continued performing in concerts and doing AIDS benefits until his death in 1992 at the age of 48.[22]

On 26 November 2005, an extension of the Tenterfield Library was opened and named the "George Woolnough Wing", named after Peter's paternal grandfather who was memorialized in his song, "Tenterfield Saddler".[23]

Allen's last performance was on 26 January 1992, in Sydney. He spent his final days in Leucadia, CA, in the same house where Greg died eight years earlier.[24] He died at Mercy Hospital San Diego, California, on 18 June 1992, from an AIDS-related throat cancer.[25] He was cremated, and his ashes were scattered at sea.

A documentary titled The Boy from Oz about Allen was produced after his death, featuring clips from his performances as well as interviews with performers who worked with him.[26]

A stage musical based on his life, also 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.[27]

Allen was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 1993.[28]

During the closing few moments of the final episode of The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder, during a video/photo montage, Allen's "Once Before I Go" played in the background

In the 1979 film All That Jazz, Allen's live rendition of "Everything Old Is New Again" is danced to by Ann Reinking and Erzebet Foldi for Roy Scheider's character Joe Gideon based on dancer Bob Fosse.

Hugh Jackman's performance of Allen's "Once Before I Go" (from The Boy from Oz) was featured in a montage dedicated to Alex Trebek in his final episode of Jeopardy which aired on January 8th, 2021, two months after Trebek's death. [29]

• David Smith and Neal Peters, Peter Allen: Between The Moon and New York City (Delilah Press, 1983; ISBN 0-933328-57-5)
• Stephen Maclean, Peter Allen: The Boy From Oz (Random House Australia, 1995; ISBN 0-09-183052-4)
• Frank Van Straten, Not the Boy Next Door (Live Performance Australia – Hall of Fame, 2007)

• Peter Allen at IMDb
• Peter Allen at the Internet Broadway Database
• Peter Allen at Find a Grave
• Peter Allen bio and recordings
• Peter Allen Exhibition Website
• Peter Allen Collection, including his personal archive and costumes, at the Performing Arts Collection, Arts Centre Melbourne