Carl Anderson

Carlton Earl Anderson, born February 27, 1945, in Lynchburg, Virginia, was an American singer, actor, and theater performer whose Broadway career spanned from 1971 to 2002. He was one of 12 children born to James and Alberta Anderson. During his junior year of high school, Anderson enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, where he served as a communications technician for two years before returning to Lynchburg to complete his education, graduating in 1965. Following his honorable discharge, he participated in the World Wide Air Force Talent Contest, performing at military bases across the United States.

Anderson relocated to Washington, D.C., in 1969, where he enrolled at Howard University to study psychology. He also co-founded a group called The Second Eagle, serving as its lead singer. The group performed material from the then-unreleased American recording of Jesus Christ Superstar, and in 1971 Anderson and his band performed songs from that album at a Palm Sunday service, an event covered by the Today show. A producer for the American stage production witnessed the performance and extended Anderson an audition.

Anderson was cast in the pre-Broadway touring company of Jesus Christ Superstar in the role of Judas Iscariot, but was passed over for the initial 1971 Broadway production in favor of the more established Ben Vereen, instead serving as understudy. When Vereen fell ill, Anderson assumed the role both on Broadway and in Los Angeles. After Vereen's recovery, the two actors alternated in the part. While performing in Los Angeles, Anderson traveled to London for a screen test for the film adaptation of the rock opera. He subsequently left the stage production to film the movie in Israel alongside Ted Neeley and Yvonne Elliman, who portrayed Jesus and Mary Magdalene, respectively. Released in 1973 under director Norman Jewison, the film earned Anderson two Golden Globe nominations — for Most Promising Newcomer and Best Musical Actor — as well as an NAACP Image Award.

In the late 1970s, Anderson reprised the role of Judas in two regional California productions organized under the California Youth Theatre. His film work during this period included The Black Pearl in 1978 and Steven Spielberg's The Color Purple in 1985. His television credits encompassed The Eddie Capra Mysteries, Cop Rock, Days of Our Lives, Rockford Files, and Hill Street Blues.

As a recording artist, Anderson signed with Motown Records in 1972 and contributed to Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life double album. He later signed with Epic Records through Columbia Records talent scout Larkin Arnold, releasing four albums on that label beginning in 1982. Over the course of his career, Anderson released nine jazz and soul albums as a solo artist. His 1986 self-titled album produced the duet "Friends and Lovers," recorded with Gloria Loring, which reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Anderson and Loring also performed the song on Days of Our Lives. In 1989, he recorded "Between You and Me," used as the title theme for the film Her Alibi. A later album, Heavy Weather Sunlight Again, was released in 1994.

In 1992, Anderson reunited with Neeley for a tour marking the twentieth anniversary of the Jesus Christ Superstar film, with both men reprising their respective roles of Judas and Jesus. Originally scheduled for three months, the production ran for five years, grossed over $100 million, and visited more than 50 North American cities, including engagements at the Paramount Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City, the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles, the Fox Theaters in Detroit, St. Louis, and Atlanta, the Morris Mechanic Theatre in Baltimore, The Orpheum in San Francisco, the Providence Performing Arts Center in Providence, Rhode Island, and multiple return engagements at the Wang Center and Shubert Theater in Boston, as well as dates in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Miami, Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal. Through this tour, Anderson performed the role of Judas more than 1,700 times.

In 1997, Anderson returned to Broadway in Play On!, an adaptation of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. In 2002, he joined another national tour of Jesus Christ Superstar, this time alongside former Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach, who portrayed Jesus. Bach walked out of the tour in April 2003 following a disagreement with the director and was replaced by Broadway actor Eric Kunze. Anderson continued with the tour for three additional months before departing after receiving a diagnosis of leukemia.

Anderson married Veronica Porché, former wife of Muhammad Ali, in 1992. He died from leukemia on February 23, 2004, in Los Angeles, four days before his 59th birthday. The Leonard Cohen and Anjani song "Nightingale," released in 2004, was recorded in his memory.