Andrew Lloyd Webber Biography

(born March 22, 1948, London, Eng.) British composer. He studied at Oxford and at the Royal College of Music. His first collaboration with lyricist Tim Rice (b. 1944), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1968), was followed by the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar (1971), which blended classical forms with rock music. Their last major collaboration was Evita (1978). Lloyd Webber's eclectic, rock-based works helped revitalize musical theatre. In both London and New York City, his musical Cats (1981), based on poems by T.S. Eliot, became the longest-running musical in history. He later collaborated on Starlight Express (1984), The Phantom of the Opera (1986), and Sunset Boulevard (1993), among other stage works; in 2006 The Phantom of the Opera surpassed Cats to become the longest-running show on Broadway. He was knighted in 1992 and ennobled in 1996.

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