| Australian born Allen first began performing in 1959 at the age of 15 in Sydney. Along with Chris Bell he formed the Allen Brothers and scored his first hit in the early 1960's with "My Secret." In the spring of 1964 Judy Garland discovered their act and brought them to London as her opening act. The Allen Brothers made their American debut at the Diplomat Hotel in Miami in December 1964, then moved to New York. For the rest of the 1960's, they appeared in clubs around the U.S., notably at the various Playboy Clubs. After a lengthy engagement, Allen married Judy's daughter Liza on March 3, 1967. He and Minnelli separated during the holiday season of 1969 (though they were not divorced until July 24, 1974), and the Allen Brothers broke up in the spring of 1970. On June 24, 1970, Allen played his first show as a solo act at the Bitter End nightclub in Greenwich Village. Employed as a staff writer at Metromedia Records, he co-wrote "Jennifer" with Carole Bayer Sager. The song was sung in the TV movie "Getting Together" by Bobby Sherman, who recorded it for Metromedia, and it became a Top 40 hit in the fall of 1971. Metromedia then commissioned Allen to record his own album, and he released "Peter Allen" in 1971, followed in 1972 by "Tenterfield Saddler." Performers on New York's club circuit began to sing songs from his albums, and he returned to performing himself with an appearance at the popular nightspot Reno Sweeney's in 1973. In 1974, he and Jeff Barry wrote "I Honestly Love You," a sad ballad that was recorded by Olivia Newton-John and became a #1 hit in October. With that, Allen was signed to A&M Records, releasing his third album, "Continental American." In 1976 came "Taught by Experts," which featured "The More I See You," an easy listening chart entry and his first disco song "I Go To Rio." An early A&M 12" promotional-only single was released of "Rio" helping it climb up the club play lists. He made a cameo appearance in the movie musical "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" in the summer of 1978. That fall, Melissa Manchester scored a Top Ten hit with another of his ballads, "Don't Cry Out Loud" (co-written with Carole Bayer Sager). His version of the song was featured on his fourth A&M album, "I Could Have Been A Sailor," which became his first LP to reach the charts in 1979. That album also produced another attempt at disco with the 12" single of "Don't Wish Too Hard" which failed to chart. Early in the year, Pablo Cruise scored an American chart entry with "I Go to Rio," and Rita Coolidge reached the Top 40 with a more typical Allen-Sager ballad, "I'd Rather Leave While I'm in Love," at the end of the year. Meanwhile, Allen took his stage act to Broadway, appearing in his own show, "Up in One, More Than a Concert." By 1980 he recorded his fifth album "Bi-Coastal" the title track was released as a 12" single in 1981 and received moderate club play. A radio single of "Fly Away" did much better. When Carole Bayer Sager sat down with Burt Bacharach and Christopher Cross to write a theme song for the film comedy Arthur, she recalled a phrase from an unrecorded song she and Allen had written years earlier: "When you get caught between the moon and New York City." It became part of the chorus of "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)," which topped the charts for Cross in the fall of 1981 and won Allen and his fellow songwriters the Academy Award for best song. Switching to Arista Records, he released "Not The Boy Next Door" in early 1983; it made the charts and spawned three adult contemporary chart entries. Allen continued to tour extensively, returning to New York for a run of sold-out performances at Carnegie Hall in September 1984 that were recorded for the 1985 Arista album "Captured Live At Carnegie Hall." During the shows, Allen performed several numbers from the musical he was writing, "Legs Diamond." Four years passed before the show was produced on Broadway, but Allen opened in it on December 26, 1988; it ran only 64 performances, but a cast album was recorded and released on RCA, which also issued Allen's final album, "Making Every Moment Count" (1990). He died of complications from AIDS in 1992. In 2004 Hugh Jackman won the Tony Award for his portrayal of Allen in the Broadway musical "The Boy From Oz" a testament to Allen's enduring talent and legacy. |
