Virginia Tech Multimedia Music Dictionary Composer Biographies

Andrew Lloyd Webber

Born: March 22, 1948 in South Kensington, England
Died:
Nationality: English
Era: Twentieth Century
Main genre: Broadway Musicals
Main works:
Broadway Musicals
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1968)
Jesus Christ Superstar (1971)
Jeeves (1975)
Evita (1976)
Cats (1981)
Starlight Express (1984)
The Phantom of the Opera (1986)
Aspects of Love (1989)
Sunset Boulevard (1993)
By Jeeves (1996)
Whistle Down the Wind (1996)
The Beautiful Game (2000)
The Woman In White (2004)
Orchestral
Requiem Mass (1985)
Brief biography:

Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber showed interest and extraordinary talent in music at a very early age. At the age of three, he began playing the violin; at six, composed his own songs; by the age of nine, Music Teacher, a magazine had published a piece of his music. In 1956, Webber attended Westminster and composed music for school plays and by 1962, he had won a scholarship to reduce his tuition. In 1964, he was awarded another scholarship to transfer to Oxford.

In 1965, Andrew Lloyd Webber met Tim Rice and dropped out of Oxford and worked with him. Their first musical, “The Likes of Us”, was a failure and never performed. Alan Dogget, head of music at a small prep school in London, asked Webber to compose something religious for their end term concert. Webber and Rice turned to the Bible and found the story of Jacob and his son Joseph. “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” was born.Throughout his career, Andrew Lloyd Webber has won many distinguishing awards including an Academy Award (for the film version of “Evita” in 1997), Tony Awards, and Grammy Awards.

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