SARAH BRIGHTMAN Biography
Over the past two and a half decades Sarah Brightman has established herself as the quintessential crossover artist and is the world's biggest-selling soprano of all time, with worldwide sales of more than 25 million albums and 2 million DVDs. She was a pioneer in transcending and melding mainstream musical genres, from Pop and Broadway showstoppers to operatic and Classical arias, and helped paved the way for such singers as Andrea Bocelli, Il Divo and Josh Groban to gain public acceptance for their own crossover efforts.
Sarah Brightman was born an entertainer. At the age of three she was dancing at festivals in her hometown of Berkhamsted in England, and at age 11 began studies at a performing arts boarding school. She began singing a year later and soon afterwards, at age 13, was sent to the West End's Piccadilly Theatre to audition for I and Albert, a John Schlesinger musical, in which she landed and played two roles.
At the age of sixteen, Ms. Brightman landed a spot in Pan's People, the resident dance troupe of BBC Television's Top of the Pops prior to joining Hot Gossip, the sultry dance troupe with Thames Television's Kenny Everett Show, which was choreographed by Arlene Phillips (Annie, Starlight Express, Lord of the Dance) who created cutting-edge dance moves and quick edits, spawning routines and techniques that are still very much staples in choreography today.
In December, 1978 Sarah Brightman launched her recording career with a single, "I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper," which became an instant hit, selling 500,000 units and reaching #6 on the British Hit Parade. She and the Hot Gossip troupe soon became teen idols, endorsing clothes, shoes and beauty products. By the time she was 18 years old Sarah Brightman was a Pop Star.
Following her stint with Hot Gossip Sarah Brightman auditioned for and got a role (Jemima) in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats. After a year in Cats, she left to play the title role in Charles Strauss' children's opera, "Nightingale." Her next major undertaking was a live performance of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Song and Dance, taped for video release in 1984, and in 1985 her recording of "Pie Jesu" from Webber's "Requiem" shot up the charts, selling 25,000 copies on its first day of release and peaking at #3 on the British charts, no small feat for a song in Latin. The album eventually became the UK's top selling classical album of the year and earned Brightman a Grammy nomination as "Best New Classical Artist." The same year she also played Valencienne in the operetta The Merry Widow (1985) at the Saddler Wells' Opera, and Tara Treetops in a show called Masquerade.
In 1986 Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera opened at the Majesty's Theatre and from opening night the show was a runaway success on the West End. For six months, Ms. Brightman performed the role of Christine, which she created, to considerable critical acclaim. A year later, she reprised her role on Broadway.
Phantom chalked up $17 million in advance sales prior to its U.S. opening night on Jan 28, 1988, and has gone on to become the most successful musical production in history.
Building on her success as a leading stage-musical singer during the 1980s, Sarah Brightman relocated to Los Angeles to establish herself as a solo artist, and this was where she first heard the music of Enigma and decided she wanted to work with the initiator of the project, Frank Peterson, whom she met in Germany in 1991.
This began a long and creatively successful collaboration which continues to this day. In 1993 her first Peterson-produced song, "Captain Nemo," was released and the song was a hit, serving as the launching pad for her solo career. The full-length album Dive followed later that year. Their follow-up album, Fly, married Brightman's crystalline soprano with dance music beats and the album's hit single, "A Question Of Honour," made Brightman a European star.
Following the success of Fly, Peterson urged Brightman to explore more classical material and together they created a new musical realm where Brightman's voice was free to roam between and embrace the worlds of Pop, Classical music and Opera. To highlight this new facet of her artistry Peterson adapted the song "Time to Say Goodbye" from the classical aria "Con Te Partiró" and invited Andrea Bocelli to perform the male lead. With its haunting melody and sumptuous arrangement, "Time To Say Goodbye" quickly became the biggest-selling single ever in German recording history, and it went on to become a massive worldwide hit, selling more than 5 million units.
Brightman's next album was the classically shaded Timeless/Time to Say Goodbye, and it established her as a global star. Already successful in North America, Europe, Japan and Australia, Sarah Brightman now conquered the rest of the world with more than 150 gold and platinum certifications in 34 countries on all continents. Just as Fly was different stylistically from Dive, Timeless was a complete departure from Peterson and Brightman's previous collaborations. It brought her a new audience of contemporary classical fans and laid the groundwork for her new stature as an operatic chanteuse, able to shift effortlessly from Puccini to Pop and from Rachmaninoff to Rock in the space of a single album.
In 1998 Eden was released and it was supported by Brightman's first solo world tour. She visited numerous countries throughout 1999 and her first concert video, One Night In Eden, was released worldwide to great acclaim.
On 25 April 2000, Brightman's fifth Frank Peterson-produced album, La Luna, appeared and its first single, a cover of Procol Harum's classic recasting of a Bach melody, "A Whiter Shade Of Pale," topped Pop, Classical Crossover and Dance charts around the world. Her second solo world tour commenced that summer and found her performing 60 shows between August and December that year.
After the La Luna tour Sarah Brightman took a break from recording and in November, 2001 a compilation album, Classics, arrived in stores featuring eight of her classical-oriented songs from her three earlier albums, plus seven never-before-released tracks.
Following the success of Classics, Frank Peterson and Sarah Brightman began work on her next studio album, Harem. A world tour supporting the album launched in December, 2003, grossed $60 million dollars and was seen by 700,000 fans. In 2004 the Live From Las Vegas DVD and CD recording from the Harem tour provided her fans with one of the most impressive performances of the tour.
Sarah Brightman solo albums include 1988's The Trees They Grow So High, 1990's As I Come of Age, 1993's Dive, 1995's Fly, 1997's Timeless and Time to Say Goodbye, 1998's Surrender and 1999's Eden. The following year saw the release of The Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection, which featured some of her finest moments from Lloyd Webber cast recordings, as well as The Songs That Got Away. In 2000 La Luna was released, followed by 2001's Classics and 2003's Harem. - Biography courtesy of Special Ops Media.
Broadway star Sarah Brightman was the inspiration behind such stage hits as +Phantom of the Opera and +Requiem, written in her honor by ex-husband Andrew Lloyd Webber. Born August 14, 1960, in Berkhampstead, England, Brightman began dancing at the age of three, and ten years later made her London theatrical debut in Charles Strouse's +I and Albert. By 1976, she was a dancer on the television series Pan's People, and later led the pop group Hot Gossip, which in 1978 scored a U.K. number one hit with the single "I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper." In 1981, she was cast in the role of Jemima in Lloyd Webber's +Cats; there she and the composer were introduced, and he divorced his first wife to marry her in 1984. Their relationship lasted through 1990, during which time Brightman created the role of Christine Daaé in +Phantom, also appearing in +Requiem and +Aspects of Love; after their divorce, she toured in +The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber: A Concert Spectacular. In addition to her stage work, Brightman also recorded a number of solo albums, including 1988's The Trees They Grow So High, 1989's The Songs That Got Away, 1990's As I Came of Age, 1993's Dive, 1995's Fly, and 1998's Eden. The following year saw the release of The Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection, which featured some of her finest moments from Lloyd Webber cast recordings, as well as The Songs That Got Away. Luna followed in the spring of 2000; Encore appeared the next year. Brightman then adopted a Middle Eastern theme for her 2003 release, Harem. Love Changes Everything: The Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection, Vol. 2 arrived in 2005, followed by the CD/DVD Diva: The Singles Collection in 2006. In 2007, Brightman appeared on BBC One's Just the Two of Us and performed at the Concert for Diana, the Shanghai Live Earth show, and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. The following year saw the release of Symphony and an appearance in +Repo! the Genetic Opera. Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide
SARAH BRIGHTMAN lyrics and albums
