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Andrew Lloyd Webber was born in 1948. He is the composer of JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT, JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, the film scores of GUMSHOE and THE ODESSA FILE, EVITA, VARIATIONS and TELL ME ON A SUNDAY combined as SONG & DANCE, CATS, STARLIGHT EXPRESS, REQUIEM, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, ASPECTS OF LOVE, SUNSET BOULEVARD, BY JEEVES, WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND and THE BEAUTIFUL GAME, which opened in London in September 2000. He has won six Tony awards, four Drama Desk awards, three Grammys including Best Classical Contemporary Composition for Requiem in 1986, and five Laurence Olivier awards.
In 1992 he was awarded a knighthood for Services to the Arts. He was inducted into the American Songwriters’ Hall of Fame and given the Praemium Imperiale award for Music in 1995. In 1996 he received the Richard Rodgers award for Excellence in Musical Theatre. In the 1997 New Years Honours List he was elevated to the peerage as The Lord Lloyd-Webber of Sydmonton. Also in that year, he and Sir Tim Rice were awarded a Golden Globe and an Oscar for Best Original Song for the EVITA movie soundtrack. Through his company, The Really Useful Group, he has produced not only his own work but that of other writers including SHIRLEY VALENTINE, LA BETE, LEND ME A TENOR and DAISY PULlS IT OFF. The Really Useful Group’s purchase in January 2000 of the StoIl Moss group of theatres to add to its existing portfolio established it as the leading owner of theatres in London’s West End.
In 1998 Andrew Lloyd Webber filmed a musical for video for the first time. The CATS video proved to be an award-winning success selling over 3 million copies worldwide and has paved the way for the filming of JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT and JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR.
In 1982 he became the first person ever to have three musicals running in New York and three in London, an achievement repeated throughout the 1980s and l990s. In 1996 the London production of CATS became the longest running musical in the West End and in 1997 the longest running musical in Broadway theatre history. There are currently 27 Lloyd Webber shows running in 9 countries around the world.
