Peter Allen AM 1944-1992

Peter Allen’s debut album as a singer-songwriter, Peter Allen, was released in 1971. That same year Allen returned to Australia for a Bandstand reunion, a visit marked by the composition of his achingly autobiographical song ‘Tenterfield Saddler’. It became the title track of his second album. His first big hit was ‘I Honestly Love You’. Written with Jeff Barry, it became a perennial calling card for Olivia Newton-John. ‘Quiet Please, There’s a Lady on Stage’ was a loving tribute to the faded glory of his former mother-in-law, Judy Garland.

After a stint as an opening act for Bette Midler, Allen became a leading figure in the revival of cabaret in New York. He made his New York solo concert debut in 1975, and went on to tour Australia with Helen Reddy. The year 1977 brought ‘I Go to Rio’, appearances at the Olympia in Paris and a return to Australia, where he toured for Kevin Jacobsen and was feted on This Is Your Life.

Allen made his London cabaret debut in 1978. That same year he had a cameo role in the film Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. In 1979 he came under the wing of promoter-manager Dee Anthony, who was managing Peter Frampton. It was Anthony who created Allen’s one-man spectacular Up in One. It played in New York and Los Angeles and toured Australia for Pat Condon, Garry Van Egmond and Kenn Brodziak – the visit that inspired ‘I Still Call Australia Home’. In 1980 Allen resuscitated the ailing Copacabana nightclub in New York and returned to Sydney for a Royal Performance at the Opera House on 27 May, attended by the Queen and Prince Philip.

In 1981 Dee Anthony negotiated Allen’s now legendary concert seasons at Radio City Music Hall in New York. In 1982, with Christopher Cross, Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager, Allen shared the Best Song Oscar for the theme for the movie Arthur; he also appeared in Las Vegas, played a third Radio City season and, less successfully, took the role of the Pirate King in a made-for-TV version of The Pirates of Penzance, with Keith Michell as the Major General.

At the end of 1982 he appeared with the Alvin Alley Dance Company in a one-off fundraising gala. The New York Times was delighted: ‘Mr Allen, it is true, comes from outside the dance world and he is not exactly on the spiritual wavelength that marks the Alley company at its peak. He is, however, nothing if not a splendid communicator, and he certainly helped sell a lot of tickets. Unlike other dance galas that have turned to pop stars for this purpose, this one integrated the guest and the home team in a one-time-only production number, Continental American Suite. Mr Allen was a good sport about it all – just about ready to make a gold-shod clown of him as he cavorted around with the Alley dancers. It all worked fabulously.’

The highlight of an Australian tour for Dee Anthony and Dennis Smith was Allen’s participation in the gala concert that opened Sydney’s new Entertainment Centre on 1 May 1983. Resplendent in a scintillating vest in an Australian flag design and backed by a 400-voice choir, Allen stopped the show with ‘I Still Call Australia Home’. The highlight of the next year was a succession of seven sell-out concerts at Carnegie Hall; less memorable were attempts at drama – cameos in The First Olympics (1984) and Prodigal Son, an episode of the popular TV series Miami Vice (1985).