Peter Allen Biography
Peter Allen was born to Peter Richard Woolnough on 10 February 1944 in Tenterfield, New South Wales, Australia. He was the grandson of George Woolnough, whom Allen immortalised in his song “Tenterfield Saddler”. He began his performing career with Chris Bell as one of the Allen Brothers, who were a popular cabaret and television act in the early 1960s in Australia. He began performing as “Peter Allen” around the same time. Mark Herron, the husband of Judy Garland, discovered Allen while he was performing in Hong Kong.
Peter Allen Career
Allen commenced releasing solo recordings in 1971, but throughout his career achieved greater success through his songs being recorded by others. He scored his biggest success with the song “I Honestly Love You”, which he co-wrote with Jeff Barry and which became a major hit in 1974 for Olivia Newton-John. Her single reached number one in the United States and Canada and won two Grammy Awards, for Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for Newton-John. 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 popularized by Rita Coolidge in 1979. One of his signature songs, “I Go to Rio”, co-written with Adrienne Anderson, was popularized in America by the group Pablo Cruise.
In 1976, Allen released an album, Taught by Experts, which reached number one in Australia, along with the number one single “I Go to Rio” and the Top 10 hit “The More I See You”. Although his recording career in the US never progressed, he performed in Atlantic City and at Carnegie Hall. He had three extended sold-out engagements at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall, where he became the first male dancer to dance with The Rockettes and rode a camel during “I Go to Rio”. This performance was broadcast live and exclusively on subscription television service WHT The Movie Network.
Allen’s most successful album was Bi-Coastal (1980), produced by David Foster and featuring the single “Fly Away”, which in 1981 became his only US chart single, reaching No. 55 on the Billboard Hot 100. In addition, Allen co-wrote the Patti LaBelle hit “I Don’t Go Shopping”, which reached the top 30 on the R&B chart in 1980.
Allen co-wrote the song “Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do)” with Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager and Christopher Cross, for the 1981 film Arthur. The song reached number one in the US and the songwriters won an Academy Award for Best Song. One lyric for the song, “If you get caught between the moon and New York City”, was adapted from an earlier song that he and Bayer Sager co-wrote. Allen and Bayer Sager also co-wrote “You and Me (We Wanted It All)”, which was recorded by Frank Sinatra. A video of Sinatra singing the song at Carnegie Hall was included as part of the Sinatra: New York package, released in late 2009.
Allen performed on Australian television for many important occasions; in front of Queen Elizabeth II in 1980 at the Sydney Opera House, before Prince Charles and Princess Diana, once in Melbourne and again in Sydney in 1981, at the opening of the Sydney Entertainment Centre in 1983, where he unveiled for the first time his Australian “Flag” shirt, and the 1980 VFL Grand Final in Melbourne. His “Up in One Concert” of 1980 was a big ratings success across the country. When Australia won the America’s Cup in 1983, he flew to Perth to sing before an audience of 100,000. In 1988, he opened for Frank Sinatra at Sanctuary Cove, Queensland. In America, he appeared at the 30th anniversary of Disneyland. He returned to recording on Arista with an album entitled Not the Boy Next Door (1983). In 1990, he recorded his final album on RCA Victor, Making Every Moment Count, which featured Melissa Manchester and Harry Connick, Jr. The song “Making Every Moment Count”, a duet with Manchester, was co-written by Seth Swirsky, who also produced a number of songs he co-wrote with Allen, including Allen’s last-released single, “Tonight You Made My Day”.
One of his songs, ‘”I Still Call Australia Home”, became popular through its use in television commercials, initially for National Panasonic and, since 1987, for Qantas airline.
Peter Allen Wife
Allen married Liza Minnelli in 1967 then later they were divorced in 1974
Peter Allen Children
As of November 2017 he has no children.
Peter Allen Awards
Peter won the ASCAP Award, Golden Globe and Oscar.