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Inherited musicality

Andrew Lloyd Webber was born in 1948 to parents with an ear for music. His mother was a piano teacher, and his father was a composer and Director of the London College of Music. Having inherited their talent for melody, he started composing at the tender age of seven. His first published work was a collection of tunes entitled Toy Theatre Suite in a 1959 edition of Music Teacher magazine, at the age of only nine!

Family man

He has been married three times and fathered five children, none of whom were born out of wedlock to second wife, Phantom of the Opera star Sarah Brightman. His eldest child, Imogen Lloyd Webber, is the author of the 2007 fiction The Single Girl’s Guide and producer of the recently London-staged play Touched For The Very First Time. It remains to be seen if any of his younger offspring will follow in their father’s musical footsteps.

Record-breaking work

In 2006, Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera became the longest running show on Broadway, ironically stealing the honour from himself for Cats. Its anticipated sequel, Love Never Dies, will earn the composer another world record for being the only musical to open simultaneously on three continents. It is scheduled to premiere in Europe (London), North America (New York) and Asia (Shanghai) in 2009.

Sir and Baron

In 1992, Andrew’s outstanding contribution to entertainment received a royal stamp of approval when he was knighted a Sir by the Queen of England. In 1997, he also acquired the title of Baron Lloyd-Webber of Sydmonton, a Hampshire town located just outside London where he hosts the famous Sydmonton arts festival on his 5,000-acre estate. Strangely, his full Baron title is hyphenated, despite his surname being hyphen free.

Songs fit for a king

Andrew Lloyd Webber and former writing partner Tim Rice wrote two songs for Elvis Presley – Please Don't Let Lorraine Come Down and It's Easy For You. The latter was recorded by Presley at Graceland in 1976.

Profitable success

Lloyd Webber’s ever-growing empire, which includes sole ownership of six London West End theatres, has made him a list-worthy profit. In 2008, his £750 million fortune ranked him as the 101st wealthiest Brit on The Sunday Times’ infamous ‘Rich List’.

Controversial generosity

In 2006, the Andrew Lloyd Webber Art Foundation set about auctioning one of its most precious possessions for charity – Picasso’s The Absinthe Drinker. The painting, worth an estimated £33 million, was withdrawn from Christie’s New York when a German-Jewish professor claimed that Nazis looted it from his family in the 1930s. Despite the case being dismissed by a U.S. judge, the foundation is in the lengthy process of seeking a ‘negative declaration’ to prove its ownership.

Political soundtrack

In the run-up to the 2005 UK general election, Andrew voiced his support for the Conservative Party in the way he knew best – with song. He granted permission for them to use his hit, Take That Look Off Your Face, in an election-campaign film containing images of the opposition leader (Tony Blair) smirking. The movie was seen by an estimated one million people in 80 cinemas across England, but not even a Lloyd Webber tune could secure the Conservatives victory come voting day.

Eurovision Song Contest

Andrew is an avid fan of Eurovision, and has confessed that ABBA's Waterloo is his all-time favourite entry. In 1967, he submitted a song to the competition called Try It and See, but it was not selected. In 2009 he composed the British entry, My Time, which was performed by Jade Ewen at the grand final in Moscow, accompanied by the man himself on piano. The song finished in a very respectable 5th place.

Copyright activist

In April 2009, Andrew led a House of Lords debate on the issue of online piracy and file sharing. He urged politicians in the British Parliament to rethink strategies and legislation to combat the further devaluing of music in the UK. Among other things, he proposed: “Internet Service Providers need to be made to do more to play their part in tackling infringement taking place on their networks”.