Peter Allen

Peter Allen, born Peter Richard Woolnough on 10 February 1944 in Tenterfield, New South Wales, Australia, was a singer-songwriter, composer, musician, and Broadway performer whose career spanned from the early 1960s until his death on 18 June 1992. Raised in nearby Armidale from the age of six weeks until he was fourteen, Allen first learned piano and dance there and began performing at age eleven, playing piano in the ladies' lounge of the New England Hotel. His father, Richard John Woolnough, a soldier and grocer, became a violent alcoholic after returning from World War II and died by suicide in November 1958. Following his father's death, Allen left school with an Intermediate Certificate and relocated to Lismore with his mother and sister. The story of his grandfather, George Woolnough, a Tenterfield saddler who never recovered from the loss, became the subject of Allen's 1972 song "Tenterfield Saddler."

In 1959, Allen traveled to Surfers Paradise, where he met English-born singer-guitarist Chris Bell. With assistance from Bell's father and inspired by the Everly Brothers, the two formed a duo called the Allen Brothers, adopting the stage name Peter Allen around the same time. Within a year they were performing on the Australian television program Bandstand. In 1964, Mark Herron, husband of Judy Garland, discovered the Allen Brothers performing in Hong Kong, and the duo became Garland's opening act during her tour. Garland introduced Allen to her daughter, Liza Minnelli; the two met in October 1964, became engaged on 26 November 1964, and married on 3 March 1967. They formally separated on 8 April 1970 and divorced on 24 July 1974. The Allen Brothers act dissolved in the spring of 1970.

Allen began releasing solo recordings in 1971 and made his Broadway debut that same year, going on to appear on Broadway through 1988. His Broadway credits included the musical Soon, the solo show Up in One, the musical Legs Diamond, in which he starred, and The Boy From Oz. His greatest commercial success came through songs recorded by other artists. He co-wrote "I Honestly Love You" with Jeff Barry, and Olivia Newton-John's 1974 recording reached number one in the United States and Canada, winning Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. 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 recorded by Rita Coolidge in 1979. His signature song "I Go to Rio," co-written with Adrienne Anderson, was popularized in the United States by Pablo Cruise.

In 1976, Allen released the album Taught by Experts, which reached number one in Australia alongside the number one single "I Go to Rio" and the Top 10 single "The More I See You." His 1980 album Bi-Coastal, produced by David Foster, yielded his only US chart single, "Fly Away," which reached number 55 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1981. That same year, Allen co-wrote "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" with Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager, and Christopher Cross for the film Arthur. The song reached number one in the United States and earned the Academy Award for Best Song. Allen and Bayer Sager also co-wrote "You and Me (We Wanted It All)," recorded by Frank Sinatra for his 1980 album Trilogy, and Allen co-wrote the Patti LaBelle hit "I Don't Go Shopping," which reached the top 30 on the R&B chart in 1980. His 1983 Arista album was titled Not the Boy Next Door, and his final album, Making Every Moment Count, was recorded for RCA Victor in 1990 and featured Melissa Manchester and Harry Connick Jr.

Allen maintained an active concert career alongside his recording work. He performed three extended sold-out engagements at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, where he became the first male dancer to perform with the Rockettes and rode a camel during a performance of "I Go to Rio." He also performed at Carnegie Hall and in Atlantic City. In Australia, he performed before Queen Elizabeth II at the Sydney Opera House in 1980, before Prince Charles and Princess Diana in Melbourne and Sydney in 1981, at the opening of the Sydney Entertainment Centre in 1983, and before an audience of 100,000 in Perth when Australia won the America's Cup that same year. His "Up in One Concert" of 1980 was a major ratings success across Australia. In 1988, he opened for Frank Sinatra at Sanctuary Cove, Queensland. His song "I Still Call Australia Home" was used in advertising campaigns for National Panasonic and, from 1987 onward, for Qantas, and was added to the National Film and Sound Archive's Sounds of Australia registry in 2013.

From 1973 until Connell's death in 1984, Allen's long-term partner was model Gregory Connell. In a 1991 interview with the gay newspaper New York Native, Allen stated that he had been out on stage years before others but objected to being labeled, saying he found outing limiting. He did not publicly disclose that he had HIV/AIDS, in part out of concern about alienating conservative fans and in part from a belief that audiences would not want to see a performer they knew was ill. Allen died on 18 June 1992, becoming one of the first well-known Australians to die from AIDS. In 1998, a musical about his life titled The Boy from Oz debuted in Australia and subsequently ran on Broadway, where Hugh Jackman won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his portrayal of Allen.