Peter Allen

Today's story is dedicated to all my Australian friends out there. It concerns an illustrious singer, songwriter, and entertainer, who led a most interesting life. This is his story.

Peter Allen & Liza Minnelli

Peter Allen was born Peter Richard Woolnough on 10 February 1944 at Tenterfield, New South Wales, Australia, elder of two children of New South Wales-born parents Richard John Woolnough, soldier and grocer, and his wife Marion Bryden, née Davidson. His grandfather, George Woolnough, was a saddle maker, whom he later immortalised in the song Tenterfield Saddler (1972). Raised in Armidale, Peter’s performing career began when he was eleven, playing the piano in the ladies’ lounge of the New England Hotel. Allen's father Dick - a war veteran - suffered from PTSD and drank heavily and although mum Marion did her best to protect Peter and his sister, home was a hostile place. Educated at Armidale High School, Peter left school after his father committed suicide in November 1958, and moved to Lismore with his mother and sister. 

His father's suicide devastated Peter (just 13 at the time) and it was also his sexuality that Allen struggled with, growing up in conservative country NSW. Allen saw his dance classes with Jenny Godwin, his childhood romance and lifelong friend, as an escape. "They used to call him 'little poofter Peter Allen' and 'freckle face wallno'… Some of the people were very unkind to Peter," Jenny recalled in a 2015 interview.

In 1959 he went to Surfers Paradise to look for work and met Chris Bell, an English-born singer-guitarist of a similar age. Assisted by Bell’s father, and inspired by the chart-topping Everly Brothers, they formed a singing duo called the ‘Allen Brothers,’ making their debut at the Grand Hotel in Coolangatta. Within a year they were based in Sydney, had signed a recording contract, and reached a national audience through the television program Bandstand.

Pretty Keen Teen (1960) was their first single to chart in Sydney's Top 20 chart:

On February 1962, they released a cover of Neil Sedaka's Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen:

Also in 1962, they released a double A-sided single. On one side was a cover of the Tony Bennett hit of the 50's, Firefly:

... on the other side was Baby Loves Me:

The Allen Brothers toured Australia and Asia. In 1964, Mark Herron, Judy Garland's soon-to-be fourth husband, met Peter, so he persuaded Judy to see him and Chris performing at the Hong Kong Hilton. Judy immediately took to them and invited them to be the opening act for her upcoming concert tour of the United States. Chris and Peter Allen, as they became known, performed in American nightclubs for the rest of the decade.

Garland also introduced Peter to her daughter Liza Minnelli. He came to New York in 1967, and he and Liza were married. They separated in 1970 when Allen acknowledged his homosexuality, and were divorced in 1974. Well, "acknowledged his homosexuality" is a quaint way of saying Liza walked in on him as he was having sex with a man. As Liza herself later said, "Let me put it this way: I'll never surprise anybody coming home again as long as I live."

According to UK's The Telegraph, a not altogether reliable source, Herron carried on a sexual relationship with Allen during their respective marriages to Judy and Liza. The article, written on the occasion of Liza's fourth husband's (David Gest, also gay) claim that "Liza Gave Me Brain Damage In Drunken Beatings" during their marriage, remarks that Liza's grandfather, as well as her father, were also closeted gay men. Considering that Judy and Liza are also supreme gay icons, there are a lot of gay connections in that family.

I'll say more when I do the stories on Judy and Liza. I should, shouldn't I? Back to Peter Allen, and 1967, when he and Liza were still living the good life. Here are the two of them, along with Peter's singing partner, Chris, in a performance for Australian TV of Ain't Nobody Loves My Baby:

In 1968, Peter and Chris released their only album, simply called Album #1. Ten Below b/w Just Friends was the first single from this album. Here's Ten Below (written by Kasha & Hirschhorn, who would later win two Best Song Oscars for The Poseidon Adventure and for Towering Inferno):

... and here's Just Friends:

The next single off the album was A Baby's Coming b/w Francis Lai's A Man and a Woman. Here's the latter:

Also in this album, My Silent Symphony:

... and Waltzing Matilda:

In 1970, on top of his separation with Liza, Allen also parted ways with Chris Bell and pursued a solo career. Initially performing at small clubs in New York and Los Angeles, he released his eponymous first album in 1971. Here he is, being interviewed and performing Honest Queen and Dixie, from this album, on ABC-TV program 'GTK' - broadcast in 1971.

The album's closing track was the interestingly titled Spit Before You Swallow (written by Roger Atkins & Peter Allen). Gay liberation is name-checked in the song.

He made his Broadway debut on 12 January 1971, in Soon, a rock opera that opened at the Ritz Theatre and ran for three performances.

In 1972 he released the album Tenterfield Saddler. The title song was deeply personal, telling his family's story beginning with his grandfather, the saddler, then his father and Peter's complicated relationship with him, and finally his own grown up years. It's a beautiful song.

Here is the song performed by Hugh Jackman, who, in 2003, starred in the Broadway stage version of a musical based on Peter's life, The Boy From Oz, that originally opened in Australia in 1998. It was the first Australian musical ever to be performed on Broadway.

Tenterfield Saddler was Allen's first Australian hit. It may have peaked at a lowly #53, but its long-lasting popularity is far greater. Just Ask Me I've Been There was another single off this album:

Meanwhile, Allen took up songwriting for other people, on his own or with others, like Jeff Barry, or frequent collaborator Carole Bayer Sager. It was a song that he wrote with the former that was his breakthrough hit: I Honestly Love You, was sung by Olivia Newton-John, topped the charts in the US, Australia, Canada, and Sweden, and won three Grammy Awards in 1974.

Here's Peter's own version, which appeared on his 1974 album Continental American:

... and here's the title track from the Continental American album:

Becoming more comfortable with his homosexuality in the 1970s, Allen formed a long-time partnership with Gregory Connell, whom he met in 1975. Connell was a fashion model from Texas who designed the sound and lighting for Allen's shows.

Gregory Connell

In 1976, Peter Allen released the album Taught By Experts. It contained one of his best and better known hits: I Go To Rio. It's a fun, lively number that hit the top of the charts in Australia. It was also a hit in New Zealand, Brazil, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Gregory Connell sings backup vocals.

Peter performed in Atlantic City and at Carnegie Hall. He had three extended sold-out engagements at New York City's Radio City Music Hall, where he became the first male dancer to dance with The Rockettes and rode a camel during I Go to Rio. I don't have this version, but here's another, later version on a July 4th TV special:

The album also included Quiet Please, There's A Lady On Stage, dedicated to Judy Garland:

... which was also covered by the divine Dusty Springfield:

... also by the phenomenal Patti LaBelle:

... also by the amazing Ann-Margret:

Also from this album: The More I See You, a Top 10 hit in Australia.

... also This Time Around:

... also Back Doors Crying (backing vocals by Dusty Springfield):

... also Six-Thirty Sunday Morning/New York, I Don't Know About You:

... also Puttin' Out Roots:

... as well as She Loves To Hear The Music. I couldn't find Peter's original version. But I've found Cher's cover version!

1977 was the year Allen's first live album, It Is Time For Peter Allen, was released. From it, here's a live version of Tenterfield Saddler:

In 1978 he appeared in a cameo role in the film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. A few months later, in 1979, his live version of Everything Old is New Again can be heard on the soundtrack of the film All That Jazz. During the same year, he starred in his own one-man revue on Broadway at the Biltmore Theatre, Up in One: More Than a Concert, which ran for 46 performances. Here's the scene from All That Jazz:

Also in 1979, another studio album was released. This one was called I Could Have Been A Sailor. Here's the title track:

... here's the confessional Paris At 21:

... here's Don't Wish Too Hard:

... here's Two Boys:

... here's Angels With Dirty Faces:

Two songs that stood out in this album became big hits for other artists. First, there was I'd Rather Leave While I'm In Love:

... which was a big hit for Rita Coolidge in 1979:

... and, just because it's Dusty ...

The other such song was Don't Cry Out Loud. First, here's Peter's version:

Ann-Margret, who was a friend of Peter Allen, has stated that the song's lyrics - though written by Carole Bayer Sager - reflect Allen's own frame of mind: "He just kept everything inside... his personal philosophy was 'Don't show anyone you're crying'."

However, even though it was his own composition, his wasn't the original version: in 1976 he had given the song to the R&B group The Moments to record. They changed the title to We Don't Cry Out Loud.

Peter Allen himself included a version of the song on his 1977 live album It is Time for Peter Allen. In 1978, two hit versions were released. The Melissa Manchester version made the Top 10 in the US and Canada:

... and Elkie Brooks' version made the Top 20 in the UK and Ireland:

... and just because, here's a live medley of Don't Cry Out Loud & I Am What I Am by Dame Shirley Bassey in Atlantic City, 1990:

Allen's most successful album was Bi-Coastal (1980), produced by David Foster and featuring the single Fly Away, which in 1981 became his only US chart single, reaching #55 on the Billboard Hot 100. In addition, Allen co-wrote the Patti LaBelle hit I Don't Go Shopping, which reached the Top 30 on the R&B chart in 1980.

Here's Fly Away:

... here's Patti LaBelle with I Don't Go Shopping:

... and here's Peter's original version:

One of his songs from this album, I Still Call Australia Home, became popular through its use in television commercials, initially for National Panasonic, and since 1998 for Qantas Airlines. This has since become an unofficial anthem for Australians abroad.

The title track, Bi-Coastal, was a not-so-subtle hint at the pleasures of bisexuality. Here are some of the lyrics:

Yeah, hit the streets at midnight
Still dancing after dawn
But something seems to be missing
Just what are you running from

Do you like your love in the dark
Or laid out in the sun?
When you can't make up your mind
Don't you know what you've become

...

All those girls on TV movies

All those boys on Broadway
When you can't make up your mind
You know you go either way

Bi-coastal, miss the natural speed of the city
Bi-coastal, California's fine if you're pretty, oh yeah
Bi-coastal, miss the natural speed of the city, oh yeah, yeah
Bi-coastal, California's fine if you're pretty

Bi-coastal, when both are so much fun
Tell me why do you have to pick, why do you have to pick
Why do you have to pick one?

... and here's the song:

One Step Over the Borderline was the 4th single from this album:

This is a tender song called Simon:

... and this is Somebody's Angel:

In 1982 (with Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager, and Christopher Cross) he won an Academy Award as well as the Golden Globe for Best Original Song, for Arthur’s Theme (from the film Arthur, starring Dudley Moore and Liza Minnelli). Christopher Cross took the song all the way to the top of the charts in the US and Norway. It also made #2 in Canada, #5 in Italy, #6 in Switzerland, #7 in the UK and Ireland, #10 in New Zealand, #13 in Australia, and #14 in Spain.

This is Peter's version:

In 1983 Peter released another album, called Not The Boy Next Door. Here's the title track:

... and here's Chris Colfer covering the song for Glee:

... here's You Haven't Heard the Last of Me:

... here's Once Before I Go:

... this is You And Me (We Had It All):

... and this is Frank Sinatra's version, which had been already released in 1980, and was titled, You And Me (We Wanted It All):

... from the same album, here's Just Another Make-Out Song:

... and here's Easy On The Weekend:

1984 was a terrible year for Peter; he lost his lover to the curse of the 80s and 90s: Gregory Connell died from an AIDS-related illness at their home in California. Peter himself was fighting against the same disease; he was infected too.

In 1985, Allen recorded a live album called Captured Live at Carnegie Hall where songs from his musical Legs Diamond, were previewed. Legs Diamond opened on Broadway at the Mark Hellinger Theatre on 26 December 1988, with a book co-written by Harvey Fierstein. The musical ran for 64 performances and 72 previews. 

From this album, here's Only Wounded:

... here's All I Wanted Was The Dream:

... and here's Knockers, from the Legs Diamond musical:

Allen performed on Australian television for many important occasions; in front of Queen Elizabeth II in 1980 at the Sydney Opera House, before Prince Charles and Princess Diana, once in Melbourne and again in Sydney in 1981, at the opening of the Sydney Entertainment Centre in 1983, where he unveiled for the first time his Australian "Flag" shirt, and the 1980 VFL Grand Final in Melbourne. His "Up in One Concert" of 1980 was a big ratings success across the country. When Australia won the America's Cup in 1983, he flew to Perth to sing before an audience of 100,000. In 1988, he opened for Frank Sinatra at Sanctuary Cove, Queensland. In America, he appeared at the 30th anniversary of Disneyland.

Peter's last studio album, with the movingly appropriate title Making Every Moment Count, was released in 1990. This is a live version of the opening track, called Tonight You Made My Day:

The title track was a duet with Melissa Manchester:

When I Get My Name In Lights was originally a duet with Harry Connick Jr.. This is a live version:

This is I Could Marry The Rain:

This is Love Don't Need A Reason:

... and this is I Couldn't Have Done It Without You:

Shortly before his death from an AIDS-related throat cancer, Peter Allen gave his last performance in Sydney on 26 January 1992. He was cremated, and his ashes were scattered at sea.

A documentary titled The Boy From Oz about Allen was produced after his death, featuring clips from his performances as well as interviews with performers who worked with him. In 1998, as I have already mentioned, a stage musical based on his life, also titled The Boy from Oz, opened in Australia, to successfully open in Broadway 5 years later with Hugh Jackman, who won a Tony Award for his portrayal in 2004. A TV mini series, Peter Allen: Not the Boy Next Door, which I recommend was broadcast in Australia in 2015. Here's the trailer from it:

I will close as I opened, with the words of Jenny Godwin, his childhood romance and lifelong friend:

"I met his boyfriend Greg and Greg was lovely. I really believe with all my heart Peter loved Greg deeply… but Peter loved everyone."