Andrew Lloyd Webber inherited his passion for music from his father, William Lloyd Webber, who was the Director of the London College of Music. Andrew’s mother was a piano teacher, and born into such a musical household it was perhaps not surprising that he developed an interest in composing from a very young age. Michael Coveney writes that by 1951, when Andrew was three years old, he was showing an aptitude for the piano but his mother noted that “All the pieces he was supposed to play, he wouldn’t touch. He wanted to play his own tunes, and no others”.*

Andrew’s first published composition was in The Music Teacher magazine in 1959, which gained critical approval from the publication’s editors and he went on to write a total of eight musicals during the intervening years, until he m et up with a certain Tim Rice at the age of seventeen.

Although primarily renowned for his work in the realm of musical theatre, Andrew’s compositions range from religious pieces such as Requiem, through Show Tunes and Rock and Roll to Symphonic works, and even a smattering of Electro thrown into the mix. His catalogue thus reflects his diverse musical tastes, embracing virtually all music genres.

 

*Michael Coveney – Cat s on A Chandelier, The Andrew Lloyd Webber Story.