Sarah Brightman

Sarah Brightman is an English soprano, singer, and actress born on August 14, 1960, in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England, where she was raised in the nearby village of Little Gaddesden. The eldest of six children born to businessman Grenville Brightman and Paula Brightman, née Hall, she began dance and piano classes at age three and competed in local festivals and performances throughout her childhood. At eleven she auditioned successfully for Tring Park School for the Performing Arts, and she later received training at Elmhurst Ballet School in Camberley, the Arts Educational School in Chiswick, West London, and the Royal College of Music.

Brightman made her theatrical debut in 1973 at age thirteen, playing one of Queen Victoria's daughters in the musical I and Albert at the Piccadilly Theatre in London. In 1976 she joined Arlene Phillips' dance troupe Hot Gossip, which scored a disco hit in 1978 with "I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper," a single that reached number six on the UK charts and sold half a million copies. She also briefly performed with Pan's People following their departure from Top of the Pops in 1976. As a solo artist she released additional disco singles on her own label, Whisper Records, including "Not Having That!" and a cover of "My Boyfriend's Back." In 1979 she appeared on the soundtrack of the film The World Is Full of Married Men, contributing the song "Madam Hyde."

Her West End musical theatre career began in 1981 when she auditioned for Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats and was cast as Jemima. After a year in that production she took over from Bonnie Langford as Kate in The Pirates of Penzance at the Drury Lane Theatre, and appeared as Tara Treetops in Masquerade, a musical based on Kit Williams's book. Beginning December 18, 1982, she played the title role in Charles Strouse's children's opera Nightingale, a performance that drew Lloyd Webber to the theatre after reading a favorable review. Though Brightman had already appeared in Cats, it was her work in Nightingale that led Lloyd Webber to recognize her as a significant talent. The two married in 1984. Brightman subsequently appeared in Lloyd Webber's Song and Dance and in his Requiem, a mass composed as a tribute to Lloyd Webber's father. Her 1985 recording of "Pie Jesu" from the Requiem sold 25,000 copies on its first day of release and peaked at number three on the UK charts despite its Latin lyrics. The Manhattan premiere of the Requiem, which starred Plácido Domingo and Brightman, was filmed by the BBC and PBS, and the LP became the UK's top-selling classical album of that year, earning Brightman a Grammy nomination as Best New Classical Artist.

Brightman's Broadway career spanned 1988 to 1992. The role of Christine Daaé in Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera was written specifically for her, and Lloyd Webber refused to open the production on Broadway unless she played the part. The American Actors' Equity Association initially objected, citing its policy requiring non-American performers to hold international star status. A compromise was reached after Lloyd Webber agreed to cast an American performer in a leading role in his next West End musical, a promise fulfilled through Aspects of Love. Phantom opened on Broadway on January 26, 1988, having already accumulated $17 million in advance sales. The original London cast album, released on CD in 1987, entered the UK music charts at number one, the first British cast album in history to do so, and has since sold over 40 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling cast album of all time. It has been certified six times platinum in the United States, twice platinum in the UK, nine times platinum in Germany, four times platinum in the Netherlands, eleven times platinum in Korea, and thirty-one times platinum in Taiwan. For her Broadway performance, Brightman received a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Musical in 1988. Critics offered a mixed reception, with some praising her singing while widely criticizing her acting; she was not nominated for the Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Musical. Brightman also appeared on Broadway in Aspects of Love, the production that had been central to the Equity negotiations surrounding Phantom.

Following her departure from Phantom, Brightman toured Lloyd Webber's music through England, Canada, and the United States, and performed the Requiem in the Soviet Union. She recorded the single "Anything But Lonely" from Aspects of Love, as well as two solo albums: The Trees They Grow So High in 1988, a collection of folk songs accompanied by piano, and The Songs That Got Away in 1989, a compilation of obscure musical theatre songs by composers including Irving Berlin and Stephen Sondheim. She also sang "Make Believe" over the closing credits of the children's film Granpa, with music and lyrics by Howard Blake. In 1989 she was the subject of the television programme This Is Your Life, surprised by host Michael Aspel at RAF Wittering in Cambridgeshire. By 1990, Brightman and Lloyd Webber had separated, and they subsequently divorced.

After leaving stage acting, Brightman relaunched her music career as a classical crossover artist in collaboration with former Enigma producer Frank Peterson. She has been credited as a creator of the classical crossover genre and remains one of its most prominent performers, with worldwide album sales exceeding 25 million and DVD sales of two million. In 1996 her duet with Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, "Time to Say Goodbye," topped charts across Europe and became the highest and fastest-selling single of all time in Germany, remaining at number one for fourteen consecutive weeks and selling over three million copies in that country alone. The single ultimately sold twelve million copies worldwide. Brightman has accumulated more than 200 gold and platinum record awards across 38 countries. In 2010 Billboard named her the fifth most influential and best-selling classical artist in the United States for the decade of the 2000s, and Nielsen SoundScan recorded 6.5 million album sales in the country.

Brightman is the first artist to have been invited twice to perform the theme song at the Olympic Games. At the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games she sang "Amigos Para Siempre" alongside Spanish tenor José Carreras before an estimated global audience of one billion people. Sixteen years later, at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, she performed "You and Me" with Chinese singer Liu Huan before an estimated audience of four billion. In 2012 she was appointed UNESCO Artist for Peace for the period 2012 to 2014, recognized for her commitment to humanitarian and charitable causes, her promotion of cultural dialogue, and her dedication to the organization's ideals. Since 2010 she has served as Panasonic's global brand ambassador.