Sarah Brightman

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sarah Brightman
Sarah Brightman in La Luna: Live in Concert (2001
Sarah Brightman in La Luna: Live in Concert (2001
Background information
Born August 14, 1960 (age 46)
Origin Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England English flag
Genre(s) Classical crossover, pop
Occupation(s) Singer, actress
Years active 1976–present
Label(s) Angel
Website http://www.sarahbrightman.com

Sarah Brightman (born August 14, 1960) is an English soprano and actress. She debuted with disco singles, achieved worldwide fame as a musical theatre performer and partner of theatre composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, and then established a position as a chart-topping classical crossover artist with former Enigma producer Frank Peterson. Brightman has received over 150 Gold and Platinum awards in 34 countries[1] and is the only artist to hold #1 spots on the Billboard Classical and Dance charts simultaneously.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Brightman was born in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England to Paula and Grenville Brightman. She was the oldest of six children. Her ambition to be an artist was apparent from an early age; she took ballet lessons starting from the age of three. At the age of eleven she attended a boarding school for stage, where she remained despite the fact that she disliked the institution. Brightman auditioned for London's Royal Ballet a few years later but was rejected.[2]

At age sixteen, in 1976, Brightman joined the dance group Pan's People. She later went on to lead Hot Gossip, a mixed dance act who appeared regularly on The Kenny Everett Video Show. The group, which was noticeably raunchier than Pan's People, had a chart-topping disco hit in 1978 with "I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper", a space-themed track which sold half a million copies and reached number six in the UK charts. Brightman released several more disco singles in subsequent years under Whisper Records; these included "Not Having That" and a cover of the song "My Boyfriend's Back"[3]. However, none became as prominent as "Starship Trooper," as the song is also called.

[edit] 1981-1989: Stage career

In 1981, Brightman auditioned for a role in the new musical Cats and received the role of Jemima. It was there that she met her future husband, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber; the two married in 1984. Brightman starred in several of his musicals, including Song and Dance and the mass Requiem, the latter expressly written for her voice. With Requiem she earned her first Grammy nomination. [4]

Brightman achieved greater success with her starring role as Christine Daaé in Lloyd Webber's adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera. The role of Christine, like Requiem before it, was specifically written for her.[5] Lloyd Webber refused to open The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway unless Brightman originated the role of Christine. Initially, the American Actors' Equity Association balked, due to their policy of hiring only Americans. Lloyd Webber had to agree to cast an American in a leading role in his next West End musical before the Equity would allow Brightman to appear (a promise he kept later in the casting for Aspects of Love).[6]

After leaving Phantom, Brightman pursued several projects. Immediately after her departure, she performed in a tour of Lloyd Webber's music throughout England, Canada, and the United States, as well as performing Requiem in the Soviet Union. During this time, she also released recorded music: the single "Anything But Lonely" from Aspects of Love, and two solo albums. In 1988, she released the album The Trees They Grow So High, a compilation of traditional folk songs accompanied by piano. 1989 saw the release of The Songs That Got Away, a musical theatre compilation of songs that had been cut from shows by composers such as Irving Berlin and Stephen Sondheim. By 1990, however, Brightman and Lloyd Webber divorced. After the official divorce, Brightman was given a lead role in Lloyd Webber's Aspects on Broadway.[7]

[edit] 1990-present: Solo career

Brightman decided to pursue a solo career in Los Angeles. Inspired by the recent success of German band Enigma, she requested to work with someone from the group and traveled to Germany in 1991 to meet her future producer, Frank Peterson. Their first collaboration on a major label release (with A&M Records) was Dive (1993), a pop album with a loose water theme that featured the hit 'Captain Nemo' (a cover of a song by the Swedish electronica band Dive).

Fly (1995), a pop/rock album and her second collaboration with Peterson, propelled Sarah Brightman to fame in Europe with the hit 'A Question of Honour'. The song was introduced at the World Boxing Championship match between Germany's Henry Maske and Graciano Rocchigiani and featured a mix of dance music, rock elements, classical strings, and excerpts from the aria "Ebben? ... Ne andrò lontana" from Alfredo Catalani's opera La Wally.

Time to Say Goodbye (Con Te Partirò) was the second Brightman song debuted for Maske, this time at his retirement match. This duet with tenor Andrea Bocelli sold more than 3 million copies in Germany alone[8]. , became the largest-selling single in that country to date, and was also a bestseller in numerous other countries. The album eventually sold more than 5 million copies world wide. No doubt due to the song's success, a 1996 re-issue of Fly contained this song as the first track.

Timeless (released in 1997, with the title Time To Say Goodbye in the United States) contained "Time to Say Goodbye" and other classically-inspired tracks such as "Just Show Me How To Love You", a duet with José Cura (originally sung by Dario Baldambembo with the title "Tu Cosa Fai Stasera?"), a cover of the Queen hit "Who Wants to Live Forever", and "Tu Quieres Volver", (originally recorded by the Gipsy Kings). The album was a smash-hit worldwide and is probably Brightman's most successful solo release.

Subsequent albums included Eden (1998) and La Luna (2000). Both of these albums took the crossover beginnings she had originally worked with on Time To Say Goodbye (which was really a more classical record) and made them her own. The two releases stand as some of the most beautiful music she's recorded. Reviews, however, were mixed - LAUNCHcast deemed Eden "deliriously sappy"[9], while All Music Guide called Eden "a winning combination"[10] and La Luna "a solid, stirring collection".[11]. Chart performance for both albums was more uniformly positive. Eden reached #65 on the Billboard 200 charts (certified Gold for selling over 500,000 copies), and La Luna peaked at #17. In addition, both albums reached #1 on Billboard's classical crossover charts.

In 2001, Brightman released Classics, an album comprised of operatic arias and other classical pieces, including a solo version of 'Time To Say Goodbye'. Many of the songs on this album were taken from her previous efforts. Reviews were somewhat better: Entertainment Weekly, although calling Brightman a "stronger song stylist than a singer", gave the album a grade of B-.[12]

Her 2003 album Harem represented another departure: a Middle Eastern-themed album, influenced by dance music. On Harem, Brightman collaborated with artists such as Ofra Haza and Iraqi singer Kazem al-Saher. Nigel Kennedy contributed violin tracks to two tracks ("Free" and "The War Is Over"), and Jaz Coleman contributed arrangements.[13] The album peaked at #29 on the Billboard 200 charts, #1 on the Billboard classical crossover chart, and yielded a #1 dance/club single with the remix of the title track. Some time later, another single from the album (the ballad "Free", cowritten with Sophie B. Hawkins) became a second Top-10 hit on this chart.

All three of these albums (Eden, La Luna, and Harem) were accompanied by live tours which incorporated the theatricality of her stage origins. Brightman acknowledged this in an interview, saying, "They're incredibly complicated...[but also] natural. I know what works, what doesn't work, all the old tricks."[14] Although sales were strong - the most recent tour for Harem grossed over 60 million dollars and sold over 700,000 tickets - [15] reviews were mixed, with one critic from the New York Times calling the La Luna tour "not so much divine but post-human" and "unintentionally disturbing: a beautiful argument of emptiness."[16]

Brightman released a DVD collection of her music videos on October 3, 2006 under the title of Diva: The Video Collection. Diva: The Singles Collection is the accompanying CD that was released on the same date. The album marked the first time Brightman has released a "Greatest Hits" album in the United States; it reached #1 on the Billboard Classical Crossover chart. (Classics, from 2001, featured seven new recordings in addition to the previously-released material, and her other reflective offering, The Best of 1990--2000 was a European-only release.)

She is currently working on a new album that is expected to be released some time in 2007.

She has been announced as one of the artists taking part in the prime time BBC 1 Show Just The Two Of Us which will begin on January 2nd 2007.[17]

[edit] Music and voice

Brightman has undergone vocal training first with Elizabeth Hawes, head of the Trinity Music College in London, and later with Ellen Faul of Juilliard. She has a three-octave vocal range[18] that extends to an E above Soprano C.[19].

David Caddick, a conductor of Phantom, has stated:

"What is amazing about Sarah is that she has two voices, really. She can produce a pop, contemporary sound, but she can also blossom out into a light soprano. The soprano part of her voice can go up to an E natural above high C. She doesn’t sing it full out, but it is there. Of course, she has to dance while she is singing some of the time, so it’s all the more extraordinary."[20]

She sometimes deploys both her pop and classical voices in the same song. 'Anytime Anywhere' of Eden is among one of the songs, which is based on Tomaso Albinoni's 'Adagio in G Minor'. In that song, she starts out in an operatic voice, switches to pop voice temporarily, and finishes off with her operatic voice.[21].

Brightman's music is generally classified as classical crossover. Brightman, in a 2000 interview with People Magazine, dismissed the label as "horrible" but stated she understood the need for categorization.[22]. Her music influences include 60s and 70s musicians and artists such as David Bowie and Pink Floyd.[23] Her music alternates in style from pop/rock to classical and contemporary. The material on her albums ranges from versions of opera arias from composers such as Puccini (on her album Harem, Eden, and Timeless), to pop songs by artists such as Kansas ("Dust in the Wind" on Eden), Dido ("Here With Me" on La Luna), and Procol Harum ("A Whiter Shade of Pale" on La Luna).

[edit] Personal life

At age 18, Brightman married Andrew Graham Stewart, a music manager. This marriage ended in divorce. She met Lloyd Webber while performing in Cats. Lloyd Webber divorced his first wife, Sarah Hugill, to marry Brightman in 1984. This marriage lasted until 1990, when they divorced. Currently they are on friendly terms; at the 20th London anniversary of The Phantom of the Opera, Lloyd Webber publicly pronounced Brightman a "wonderful woman" and "absolutely beloved mentor." In 1990, Brightman became involved with Peterson; this relationship lasted eleven years.

During the later stages of her career, Brightman suffered several personal crises, including the suicide of her father in 1992, and two miscarriages. In an interview with the British magazine Hello!, she stated that motherhood would have been "lovely", but she gladly accepted her destiny.[24]

[edit] Stage credits

[edit] Musicals

[edit] Plays

  • Trelawny of the Wells (as Rose Trelawney), 1992
  • Relative Values (as Miranda), 1993 Chichester Festival and Savoy Theatre
  • Dangerous Obsession (as Sally Driscoll), 1994 Haymarket Theatre, Basingstoke
  • The Innocents (as Miss Giddens), 1995 Haymarket Theatre, Basingstoke

[edit] Tours

  • 1988 - The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber
  • 1996 - A tour in support of "Time To Say Goodbye."
  • 1999 - The One Night In Eden World Tour, in support of "Eden."
  • 2000/2001 - The La Luna World Tour, in support of "La Luna."
  • 2004 - The Harem World Tour, in support of "Harem."

[edit] Selected discography

Further information: Sarah Brightman discography

[edit] Cast Recordings

  • Cats - (1981)
  • Nightingale - Original London Cast (1983)
  • Andrew Lloyd Webber's Requiem - Domingo, Brightman, ECO, Maazel (1985)
  • The Phantom of the Opera - Original London Cast (1986)
  • Carousel - Studio Cast (1987)

[edit] Albums

  • The Trees They Grow So High (also known as Early One Morning, 1988)
  • The Songs That Got Away (1989)
  • As I Came of Age (1990)
  • Dive (1993)
  • Fly (1995)
  • Timeless / Time To Say Goodbye (1996)
  • Eden (1998)
  • La Luna (2000)
  • Classics (2001)
  • Harem (2003)
  • Harem World Tour (2004)
  • Classics (European 'Best of' version 2006)
  • Diva: The Singles Collection (2006)

[edit] Filmography

  • Song and Dance (1983)....as Emma
  • Requiem (1985)....as Soprano
  • The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber (1995)....as Herself
  • A Gala Christmas in Vienna (1997)....as Herself
  • Sarah Brightman In Concert (1998)....as Herself
  • One Night In Eden (1998)....as Herself
  • Andrew Lloyd Webber: The Royal Albert Hall Celebration (1998)....as Herself
  • Rosamunde Pilcher - Zeit der Erkenntnis (2000)....as Herself
  • Sarah Brightman: La Luna: Live In Concert (2001)....as Herself
  • Vatican Christmas Concert (2002)....as Herself
  • Harem: A Desert Fantasy (2003)....as Herself
  • The Harem World Tour: Live From Las Vegas (2004)....as Herself
  • Diva: The Video Collection (2006)....as Herself

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Official video biography. [1]
  2. ^ "Wrapped up in her gift". The Independent. 8 November 1997.
  3. ^ Chin, Siew May. Official biography, part one. [2].
  4. ^ Official video biography. [3].
  5. ^ Official video biography. [4].
  6. ^ Time Magazine. "Chills, Thrills, and Trapdoors. January 18, 1988. Retrieved October 15, 2006.
  7. ^ Chin, Siew May. Official biography, part two. [5].
  8. ^ Official video biography. [6].
  9. ^ Dumpert, Hazel-Dawn. "Album Review: Eden". Yahoo! Music. March 6, 2000. Retrieved August 4, 2006.
  10. ^ Phares, Heather. Review: Eden." All Music Guide. Retrieved August 4, 2006.
  11. ^ Buss, Bryan. Review: La Luna." All Music Guide. Retrieved August 4, 2006.
  12. ^ Bernardo, Melissa Rose. Music Review: Classics." Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved August 5, 2006.
  13. ^ Video interview, [7].
  14. ^ "Reesman, Bryan. "Siren Soprano". Yahoo! Music. April 9, 2001. Retrieved August 4, 2006.
  15. ^ Official video biography. [8].
  16. ^ Powers, Ann. POP REVIEW; An Ethereal Voice From On High (Up Where the Loudspeakers Are). The New York Times. September 27, 2000. Retrieved November 24, 2006.
  17. ^ BBC page. Retrieved December 14, 2006
  18. ^ Alter, Gaby. Tour Profile: Sarah Brightman." April 1, 2004. Retrieved August 22, 2006.
  19. ^ Chin, Siew May. Official biography, part two. [9].
  20. ^ Chin, Siew May. Official biography, part two. [10].
  21. ^ Sound and Vision. [11].
  22. ^ Charaipotra, Sona. People Weekly, November 6, 2000.
  23. ^ Video interview. [12].
  24. ^ Barber, Richard. Hello!. December 5, 2006.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../s/a/r/Sarah_Brightman_f176.html"