Composer

Andrew Lloyd Webber is the composer behind some of the world’s most loved musicals. Over the course of a glittering career spanning nearly half a century, he has written and produced some of the most memorable stage shows and songs of our time, won numerous awards, and become a familiar face to audiences across the globe.

 

Musicals and songs

Lloyd Webber’s hit shows include Cats, Evita, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Phantom of the Opera (which this year celebrates its 30th anniversary), Starlight Express and Sunset Boulevard. 

Many songs from his musicals have taken on a life of their own. Numbers such as “Memory” from Cats, “The Music of the Night” from The Phantom of the Opera, “Don’t Cry For Me, Argentina” from Evita and “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” from Jesus Christ Superstar are now instantly recognisable to millions of listeners.

In 2017, School of Rock – The Musical, a stage version of the popular movie, ran alongside Cats, The Phantom of the Opera and Sunset Boulevard in New York – making Lloyd Webber the first person to match Rodgers and Hammerstein’s record of having four shows running simultaneously on Broadway.

 

Honours and awards

Lloyd Webber’s awards, both as composer and producer, include seven Tonys, seven Oliviers, a Golden Globe, an Oscar, the Praemium Imperiale, the Richard Rodgers Award for Excellence in Musical Theatre, a BASCA Fellowship and the Kennedy Center Honor – as well as a Grammy for Best Contemporary Classical Composition for Requiem, his setting of the Latin Requiem mass which contains one of his best-known compositions, “Pie Jesu”. 

He was knighted by Her Majesty The Queen in 1992 – becoming Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber – and created an honorary member of the House of Lords in 1997 – making him now The Lord Lloyd-Webber. 

 

Supporting new music and the arts

He is also passionate about the importance of music in education. The Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation has become one of Britain’s leading charities supporting the arts and music, providing scholarships, grants and other assistance to arts schools and students.

Lloyd Webber also owns the seven London theatres comprising the LW Theatre group, including the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, the London Palladium and the Gillian Lynne Theatre, where School of Rock is performed.