Peter Allen -

Peter Allen — aka Peter Richard Woolnough (Feb. 10, 1944 — June 8, 1992) — was an Australian pianist, singer, composer, and showman, best known internationally through his songwriting partnership with Carole Bayer Sager that yielded hits for Melissa Manchester (“Don’t Cry Out Loud”), Rita Coolidge (“I’d Rather Leave While I’m In Love”), and Christopher Cross (“Arthur’s Theme [Best That You Can Do]”).

As a recording artist in his own right, Allen released several singles and a 1971 album on Metronome, followed by five studio albums and a live double-LP on A&M between 1974 and 1980. During the 1980s, he released a seventh studio album and a second live double-set on Arista and also collaborated with playwright Harvey Fierstein on the Broadway musical Legs Diamond.

Peter Allen came from Armidale, New South Wales. In 1959, he teamed with English-born singer Chris Bell in the Allen Brothers, a singing duo based on the Everly Brothers. They performed on Sydney’s cabaret circuit and appeared on Australian television.

In 1964, Judy Garland’s husband (Mark Herron) spotted the Allen Bros on a visit to Hong Kong. They became an opening act for Judy, who set Allen up with her daughter Liza Minnelli. Peter and Liza married in 1970 but broke up soon after when she caught him in bed with another man.

Now based in the US, Allen formed a songwriting partnership with Carole Bayer Sager. They wrote hit ballads for Melissa Manchester (“Don’t Cry Out Loud”) and Rita Coolidge (“I’d Rather Leave While I’m In Love”).

In 1976, Allen had a No. 1 hit in Australia with the festive “I Go to Rio,” a song popularized in the US by Pablo Cruise. Other signature songs in Allen’s act included “Paris at 21” (about longing for the Paris of the 1920s) and “Quiet Please, There’s a Lady On the Stage” (about a late-life tribute to a once-major star). Multiple disco singers covered his song “She Loves to Hear the Music” (about a high profile but lonely music publicist).

With Sager, Allen co-wrote “Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do),” the theme to the 1981 Dudley Moore comedy Arthur. Sung by Christoper Cross, the song spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the fall of 1981. Allen died in 1992 from AIDS-related complications.

In 2004, Australian actor Hugh Jackman won a Tony for his portrayal of Allen in The Boy from Oz, based on the life and music of the song-and-dance man. Jackman played 32 previews and 365 performances in the play’s Broadway run, which ran from September 2003 to September 2004 at Manhattan’s Imperial Theatre at 249 West 45th Street. In 2006, he reprised the role for a five-week Australian arena tour. Jackman considered The Boy from Oz to be a celebration of “a great Australian” and “what it means to be Australian.”

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