Tim Rice

A prolific lyricist and librettist, Tim Rice was born in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, in the fall of 1944. Rice pursued his university education at Lancing College and, briefly, at l'Universite de Paris - Sorbonne.

Sang lead vocals with a pop group named The Aardvarks (1961-1963).

He was considering a legal career around the time that he met Andrew Lloyd Webber in 1965. Three years later, the two young men composed a 20-minute pop oratorio that would eventually become "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat".

The piece was premiered on 1st March 1968 at the Colet Court School in the City of London.

During the following months, Rice and Webber lengthened the oratorio to 30 minutes, and a record album of "Joseph" (with Rice singing the role of "Pharaoh") was made at the end of 1968. Remaining in partnership with Webber, his next project was "Jesus Christ Superstar".

Introduced to the public as a concept album in 1970, the opera propelled Rice and Webber to international stardom.

Staged versions appeared the following year, and their popularity led to the film Jesus Christ Superstar (1973). Following "Superstar", Rice and Webber returned to their previous project and expanded it into (more or less) its finalised form.

In 1973, he founded a cricket side - The Heartaches - for which he serves as a manager as well as a player. He also makes regular contributions to various cricket magazines. He continues to have projects in development for the theatre and for film.

The concept album for "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" was released in 1974. Inexplicably eclipsed by his collaborator, Rice may never have received the acclaim that he deserved for his contributions to the partnership. The death-throws of the Rice-Webber collaboration produced a third opera, called "Evita".

Its concept album was released in 1976.

Father of Donald Rice (born 1978) with Jane McIntosh.

Has won three Tony Awards: two in 1980, as Best Score, his lyrics with Andrew Lloyd Webber's music, and as Best Book (Musical) for "Evita;" and in 2000, as Best Original Musical Score, his lyrics with Elton John's music for "Aida." He was also Tony-nominated five other times: in 1972, as Best Score, him as lyricist and Webber as composer, for "Jesus Christ Superstar;" in 1982, as Best Score, his lyrics with Webber's music, and as Best Book (Musical) for "Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dreamboat;" in 1994, as Original Music Score, lyrics by him and Howard Ashman with Alan Menken's music for "Beauty and the Beast;" and in 1998, as Best Original Music Score, shared with several others, for "The Lion King."

Rice continued on with a piece called "Blondel", which appeared in 1983. Set to music by Stephen Oliver, "Blondel" was arguably the most comic and witty of Rice's major works.

The opera "Chess" followed, with its concept album arriving in 1984. Former ABBA songwriters Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson provided the music for "Chess", and the concept album was an international hit.

"Chess" was staged in London in 1986 with great success, but the 1988 Broadway production was radically revised without Rice's knowledge or permission, and it was quickly shut down.

In 1987 Rice was asked by Freddie Mercury and Mike Moran to write lyrics for Freddie's album with Montserrat Caballé "Barcelona", released in 1988, one entitled "The Fallen Priest" and the other "The Golden Boy".

Has a brother, Jonathan, often known as Jo Rice, who has written some of the books of the TV series "Keeping Up Appearances" (1990) as well as co-founding The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles with Tim, Paul Gambaccini and Mike Read in 1977.

In 1991, he was hired to finish the lyrics for the Walt Disney film Aladdin (1992).

Rice also composed additional lyrics for the stage version of Disney's film Beauty And The Beast (1991), which opened on Broadway in 1994.

The 1991 to 2000 period also saw a flurry of activity for Tim Rice's earlier works. Major revival productions of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" and "Jesus Christ Superstar" were staged in many parts of the world.

Disney subsequently teamed him with Elton John for The Lion King (1994).

A stage version of The Lion King (1994) opened on Broadway in 1997, as he was working with Elton John on two new projects - "Aida", which opened on Broadway in 2000, and the Dreamworks film, Road to El Dorado (2000).

Additionally, there was the film, Evita (1996), as well as the video-films Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat (1991), and Great Performances: Jesus Christ Superstar (2000). Apart from theatre and film, Rice has written recurring columns for UK newspapers, as well as having shown up regularly on BBC Radio and Television.

Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1999.

He was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 2000 (1999 season) for Best New Musical for The Lion King at the Lyceum Theatre.

He was nominated for a 2004 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Outstanding Musical Production of 2003 for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

His musical, "Chess", at the Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre, in association with Michael James, in Chicago, Illinois was awarded the 2010 Joseph Jefferson Award (Non-Equity Division) for Production of a Musical.