Tim Rice
Tim Rice | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Birth name | Timothy Miles Bindon Rice |
Born | Shardeloes, Buckinghamshire, England | 10 November 1944
Origin | Amersham, Buckinghamshire, England |
Genres |
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Occupation(s) | Lyricist |
Years active | 1965–present |
Website | timrice |
Sir Timothy Miles Bindon Rice (born 10 November 1944) is an English lyricist and author. He is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote, among other shows, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Evita; with Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson of ABBA, with whom he wrote Chess; with Elton John, with whom he wrote Aida; and with Disney on Aladdin, the Lion King, both the stage adaptation of Beauty and the Beast and the live-action film adaption. He also wrote lyrics for the Alan Menken musical King David, and for DreamWorks Animation's The Road to El Dorado.
Rice was
Rice twice hosted the
Early life
Rice was born at
Education
Rice was educated at three independent schools:
Career
Music industry
After studying for a year in Paris at the Sorbonne, Rice joined EMI Records as a management trainee in 1966. When EMI producer Norrie Paramor left to set up his own organization in 1968, Rice joined him as an assistant producer, working with, among others, Cliff Richard and The Scaffold.
Musical theatre
Rice became famous for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Cricket, The Likes of Us, and additional songs for the 2011 West End production of The Wizard of Oz. Joseph and Superstar were additionally known as two of the first hit musicals that drew their sound from the rock and pop music that became embedded in culture in the 1960s.
For
In 1996, his collaboration with Lloyd Webber for the film version Evita won Rice his third Academy Award for Best Original Song with the song "You Must Love Me". Rice has also collaborated with Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson of ABBA on Chess and with Rick Wakeman on the albums 1984 and Cost of Living. In 2009, he wrote the lyrics for Andrei Konchalovsky's critically panned reimagining of The Nutcracker, set to the music of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.[10]
Rice reunited with Andrew Lloyd Webber in 2011 to pen new songs for Lloyd Webber's newest production of The Wizard of Oz which opened in March 2011 at the London Palladium. Rice has since, however, rejected working with Lloyd Webber again, claiming their partnership has run its course, and they are "no longer relevant as a team".[11]
Media
On 9 November 1979, Rice hosted a highly publicised edition of
Rice has also been a frequent guest panellist for many years on the radio panel games
Beginning in the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in partnership with Broadway Podcast Network, Rice has presented Get Onto My Cloud, a podcast retrospective of his career.[14] A number of episodes feature verbatim excerpts of his autobiography, and all include various recordings of his, and other associated musicians', work.
Literature
He released his autobiography Oh What a Circus: The Autobiography of Tim Rice in 1998, which covered his childhood and early adult life until the opening of the original London production of
Rice was the president of The London Library, the largest independent lending library in Europe from 2017–2022.[16]
Publishing
Along with his brother, Jo, and the radio presenters
Patronage
Rice is a patron of the London-based drama school, Associated Studios[19] and was for several years, a patron of Thame Players Theatre along with Bruce Alexander.[20]
Honours
Rice was made a
In 2008, Rice received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[22]
He is a fellow member of the
Personal life
On 19 August 1974, Rice married Jane Artereta, daughter of Colonel Alexander Henry McIntosh,
Lady Rice manages the family's 33,000-acre Dundonnell estate which Sir Tim Rice bought in 1998 for £2 million. She has won awards for her conservation work with red squirrels.[26] They have two children, Eva Jane Florence, a novelist and singer-songwriter, and Donald Alexander Hugh, a film director and theatre producer who also helps to run Dundonnell.[27] Eva, who was named after Eva Perón, is the author of the novel The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets, which was a finalist for the British Book Award Best Read of the Year.
Rice has a second daughter, Zoe Joan Eleanor, from a relationship with Nell Sully, an artist.[28] He has a third daughter, Charlotte Cordelia Violet Christina, from a relationship with Laura-Jane Foley, a writer. He has seven grandchildren.[29]
Despite having no familial or personal ties to the club, Rice has been a fan of Sunderland AFC since his early childhood.[30]
Politics
Rice was a supporter of the Conservative Party, but in 2007 stated that the Conservatives were no longer interested in him and that his relationship with the party had "irrevocably changed."[31] Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber, both supporters of Margaret Thatcher, attended her funeral in 2013.[32]
Rice raised funds for the Euro No campaign in 2000.[33] In 2014 he was a donor to the UK Independence Party.[34] In May 2016, he told The Spectator that he would vote for Brexit in the following month's referendum on the issue, saying: "It would be good to spend one's final years as part of a truly independent nation once more." He said he had voted to remain in the European Economic Community in 1975 "from a standpoint of ignorance".[35]
Religion
Describing his religion, Rice stated in a 1982 interview, "Technically I'm Church of England, which is really nothing. But I don't follow it. I wouldn't say I was a Christian. I have nothing against it." Conversely, he also stated that he adapted the Biblical stories of Joseph and Jesus to musicals because "I'd always rather take a true story over an untrue one."[36]
Wealth
According to
In 2015, Rice expressed his indebtedness to the journalist
Musical theatre
- 1968 – Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber
- 1970 – Jesus Christ Superstar with music by Lloyd Webber
- 1976 – Evita with music by Lloyd Webber
- 1983 – Blondel with music by Stephen Oliver
- 1984 – Chess with music by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus
- 1986 – Cricket with music by Lloyd Webber
- 1992 – Tycoon with music by Michel Berger (English-language adaptation of the 1979 French musical Starmania, with original French lyrics by Luc Plamondon)
- 1994 – Beauty and the Beast with music by Alan Menken for 9 new songs; remaining songs feature the lyrics of Howard Ashman, as written for the 1991 film.
- 1996 – Heathcliff with music by John Farrar
- 1997 – The Lion King with music by Elton John
- 1997 – King David with music by Menken
- 2000 – Aida with music by Elton John
- 2005 – The Likes of Us with music by Lloyd Webber (written in 1965, but first staged at the Sydmonton Festival on 9 July 2005[39])
- 2011 – E.Y. Harburg. The remaining 13 songs are solely by Arlen and Harburg.
- 2011 – Aladdin with music by Menken and additional lyrics by Ashman and Chad Beguelin. Based on the film.
- 2013 – From Here to Eternity with music by Stuart Brayson, based on the James Jones novel of the same name[40]
Film and television work
In addition to adaptations of his theatrical productions, Rice has worked on several original film and television projects:
- 1983 –
- 1992 – Aladdin with music and score by Alan Menken; completed work begun by Howard Ashman
- 1994 – The Lion King with music by Elton John, score by Hans Zimmer
- 2000 – The Road to El Dorado with music by Elton John, score by Hans Zimmer and John Powell
- 2009 – The Nutcracker in 3D with music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and score by Eduard Artemyev
- 2017 – Beauty and the Beast[41] with music and score by Alan Menken; additional three songs
- 2019 – Aladdin with music and score by Alan Menken; new compositions with Pasek and Paul
- 2019 – The Lion King with music by Elton John and score by Hans Zimmer
Lyricist
- ”Christmas Dream”, written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and sung by Perry Como for The Odessa File (1974).
- "It's Easy for You", recorded by Elvis Presley on his album Moody Blue.
- "Legal Boys", recorded by Elton John on his album Jump Up!
- 1981 concept album 1984 composed by Rick Wakeman and inspired by the George Orwell novel of the same name.
- "The Second Time", "The Last One to Leave", "Hot As Sun" and "Falling Down to Earth" on Elaine Paige's 1981 self-titled album
- "All Time High", the theme tune to the James Bond film, Octopussy, written with John Barry and sung by Rita Coolidge (1983).
- "A Winter's Tale", written with Mike Batt and recorded by David Essex (1982).
- "The Fallen Priest" and "The Golden Boy" for Freddie Mercury's 1988 album Barcelona.
- "The Monkey And The Onion" with music by Graham Gouldman performed as 10cc on their final album Mirror Mirror (1995)
- "Warthog Rhapsody" and a reworking of "Hakuna Matata" (both written with Elton John) for Rhythm of the Pride Lands (1995).
- "That's All I Need", written with Elton John, for The Lion King 1½ (2004). Snippets of songs originally written by the pair for The Lion King also feature in the film.
- "Peterloo", was requested by Sir
- "A Matter of Love" Lyrics written by Tim Rice for Taiwanese Prince of Ballads Jeff Chang (January 2021)
Other work
- From 1979 to 1982, Rice was co-host of the BBC2 chat show Friday Night, Saturday Morning.
- Made a rare appearance in an acting role as a newscaster reporting a plane crash in the 1981 Australian horror film The Survivor.
- Co-produced the 1986 London and 1988 Broadway productions of Chess as a partner in 3 Knights Ltd with Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus.
- Co-produced the 1989 London production of Anything Goes as a partner in Anchorage Productions with Elaine Paige.
- Co-produced, with Andrew Powell, Elaine Paige's 1981 self-titled album
- Occasional panellist on the BBC Radio 4 panel game Just a Minute[44]
- Appears as host of the BBC Radio 2 weekly series Tim Rice's American Pie which explores the music and musicians of each state in the USA.
References
- ^ Gans, Andrew (15 February 2023). "Tim Rice to Be Honored at 52nd Annual Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction and Awards Ceremony". Playbill. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
- ^ "John Legend, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice become EGOT winners". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
- ^ a b Homewood, Ben (13 May 2020). "Rihanna debuts in Top 3 of The Sunday Times' list of richest musicians". musicweek.com. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
- ^ a b Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition, vol. 3, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 2003, p. 3327
- ^ "Joan Rice: author of Sand in My Shoes". Thetimes.co.uk. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
- ^ "Google Groups". Groups.google.com. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
- ^ "Tim Rice profile". Filmreference.com. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
- ^ "Granny had a ball during the blitz". The Times. London. 6 August 2006. Archived from the original on 8 September 2011. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
- ISBN 0-340-65459-7.
- ^ "Andrei Konchalovsky Talks 'The Nutcracker in 3D' [Exclusive]". Movieweb.com. 23 November 2010. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
- ^ Matt Trueman (26 March 2012). "Tim Rice rules out collaborating again with Andrew Lloyd Webber". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
- ^ Cleese and Palin relive the 1979 Life of Brian debate, BBC News. 30 December 2013. Retrieved 6 September 2019
- ^ ""Episodes from Sounds of the 60s broadcast in 2011" at bbc.co.uk". BBC. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
- ^ "News Item: Sir Tim Rice announces "Get Onto My Cloud"". Retrieved 29 January 2021.
- ^ [1] Archived 4 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Patrons and Presidents". Londonlibrary.co.uk. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
- ^ "Capel & Land | Tim Rice (archived version, recent version no longer mentions it)". 2010. Archived from the original on 21 August 2011. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
- ^ "Sir Tim Rice Career Synopsis". Timrice.co.uk. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
- ^ "Associated Studios | Musical Theatre Courses London". Associated Studios.
- ^ "The Players Theatre, Thame". Thame Players Theatre.
- ^ a b "Disney Legends — Sir Tim Rice". D23.com. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
- ^ Tim Rice. "Sir Tim Rice – Career Synopsis". Timrice.co.uk. Retrieved 13 October 2009.
- ^ "Fellows – The British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors". Basca.org.uk. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
- ^ Nikkhah, Roya (27 November 2011). "Why Jane Rice wants to save the red squirrel". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
- ^ Hastings, Christopher. "Elaine Paige: Sex, drugs and musicals", The Daily Telegraph, 20 September 2008.
- ^ Nikkhah, Roya (27 November 2011). "Why Jane Rice wants to save the red squirrel". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
- ^ "Donald Rice". Independent Talent.
- ^ Nikkhah, Roya (14 April 2013). "'Musicals are not the be all and end all,' says Tim Rice". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
- ^ Helliker, Adam (16 October 2016). "Baby joy for 71 year old Sir Tim Rice with woman 37 years his junior". Daily Express.
- ^ "Sunderland relegation fight - celebrity fan Sir Tim Rice gives his view". chroniclelive.co.uk. 2 May 2015.
- ^ "Tim Rice: Tories no longer love me". The Guardian. 15 February 2007. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
- ^ "Jeremy Clarkson, Shirley Bassey and Tony Blair, but no Mikhail Gorbachev: Margaret Thatcher's funeral guest list announced". The Independent. 11 April 2013. Archived from the original on 7 May 2022. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
- ^ "Anti-euro campaign launched". BBC News. 4 September 2000. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
- ^ "Sir Tim Rice emerges as Ukip donor". The Daily Telegraph. 23 February 2014.
- ^ "The Spectator poll: Are You In or Out? Bob Geldof, Tim Rice & Joey Essex have their say". The Spectator. 27 May 2016. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
- ^ "Lyricist is Unreligious". Retrieved 28 September 2014.
- ^ "Angus McGill: The funeral and the wake". 47 Shoe Lane, 29 October 2015, retrieved 25 September 2017.
- ^ Sondheim and Lloyd-Webber: The New Musical, Stephen Citron, Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 114
- ^ "First Lloyd Webber/Rice Collaboration on CD". Britishtheatreguide.info. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
- ^ "Tim Rice: 'I never wanted to be in the musical business. I wanted to be a rock star'". The Stage. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
- ^ McNary, Dave (16 March 2015). "Disney's Live-Action 'Beauty and the Beast' Set for March 17, 2017". Variety. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
- ^ "Peterloo (choral version)". Faber Music. Archived from the original on 6 February 2017. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
- ^ White, Michael (15 September 2014). "Last Night of the London Proms: A Sonic Potpourri". New York Times. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
- ^ "Who's Who in Just A Minute!". just-a-minute.info.