Allen, Peter (1944-1992), was an Australian singer, songwriter, pianist, and dancer. Australians regarded him as a cultural ambassador for their country.
Peter Allen Woolnough was born on Feb. 10, 1944, in Tenterfield, New South Wales. He began singing in public houses in 1956. Two years later, at the age of 14, he left school and embarked on a cabaret act in which he sang, played piano, and cavorted on stage in a manic, frenzied way. These performances laid the foundation for a stage act that would later attract fans throughout the world.
By the early 1960’s, Allen was part of a cabaret trio. During an East Asian tour in 1964, the trio performed in Hong Kong, where Allen met the American singer Judy Garland and her daughter Liza Minnelli. Garland was then ill but continued to give international concerts. For the next five years, the trio, known as the Allen Brothers and Adriana, opened all of Judy Garland’s concerts.
In 1967, Allen and Minnelli were married. But after Judy Garland’s death in 1969, their marriage ended. After Allen and Minnelli separated in 1970, Allen disbanded the trio and became a solo nightclub performer. He also began making recordings of his own songs and giving stage concerts in the United States. His one-man Broadway show in 1979 was a success. He also wrote songs for such American artists as Bette Midler, Frank Sinatra, Melissa Manchester, Rita Coolidge, and his fellow Australians Olivia Newton-John and Helen Reddy. In 1982, Allen wrote the theme music for the film Arthur (1981), for which he shared an Academy Award for best song. In 1982, he appeared in a British television production of The Pirates of Penzance, an operetta by W. S. Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan.
For the last decade of his life, Allen worked mainly in the United States and Australia. In 1988, he co-wrote and starred in the musical Legs Diamond on Broadway. Allen died on June 18, 1992.
