Tim Rice

Infobox Musical artist
Name = Tim Rice


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Background = non_performing_personnel
Birth_name = Timothy Miles Bindon Rice
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Born = birth date and age|df=yes|1944|11|10
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Origin = flagicon|England Amersham, Buckinghamshire, England
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Genre = Musical Theatre, Film, Television
Occupation = Lyricist
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Sir Timothy Miles Bindon Rice (born 10 November 1944) is an English Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Tony Award and Grammy Award winning lyricist, author, radio personality and television gameshow panelist.

Career Overview

Rice was born in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, England, and was educated at Aldwickbury school, St Albans School and Lancing College. He is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat", "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Evita", and his work for The Walt Disney Company with Alan Menken and Sir Elton John. He also collaborated with Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson of ABBA on "Chess" and with Rick Wakeman on the concept albums "1984" and "Cost of Living".

After studying for a year in Paris at the Sorbonne, Rice joined EMI Records as a management trainee in 1966. When EMI producer Norrie Paramor left to set up his own organisation in 1968, Rice joined him as an assistant producer, working with, among others, Cliff Richard,

Along with his brother Jo and radio presenters Mike Read and Paul Gambaccini, he was a co-founder of the "Guinness Book of British Hit Singles" and served as an editor from 1977 to 1996. He has also been a frequent guest panelist for many years on the radio panel games "Just a Minute" and "Trivia Test Match". Rice often jokes that he is most recognised in America for his appearance in the film "About a Boy". The film includes several clips from a (real) edition of the game show "Countdown" on which he was the guest adjudicator. His other interests include cricket (he was President of the MCC in 2002) and maths. He wrote the foreword to the book "Why Do Buses Come In Threes" by Rob Eastaway and Jeremy Wyndham, and featured prominently in Tony Hawks' "One Hit Wonderland", where he co-wrote the song which gave Hawks a top twenty hit in Albania.

He released his autobiography "Oh What a Circus - The Autobiography of Tim Rice" in 1998, which covered his childhood and early adult life until the opening of the original London production of "Evita" in 1978. He is currently working on a sequel, covering his life and career since then.

Rice was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1999 and was, in 2002, named a Disney Legend.

Personal life

Rice married Jane McIntosh on 19 August 1974, but the marriage broke up in the late-1980s after the British tabloid newspapers revealed that he had been conducting an affair with actress/singer Elaine Paige. Jane retains the title Lady Rice. They had two children, Eva and Donald. Eva Rice, who was named after the title character from "Evita", is the author of the novel "The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets", which was a finalist for the British book award Best Read of the Year.

Rice is a Sunderland A.F.C. supporter, and was awarded an honorary doctorate of letters by the University of Sunderland at a ceremony at the Stadium of Light in November 2006 [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wear/6188564.stm] . He was also a supporter of the Conservative Party.

Rice runs his own amateur Heartaches Cricket Club, the name inspired by an Elvis Presley song.

Musical Theatre

*1967 - "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat" with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber
*1970 - "Jesus Christ Superstar" with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber
*1976 - "Evita" with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber
*1983 - "Blondel" with music by Stephen Oliver
*1984 - "Chess" with music by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus
*1986 - "Cricket" with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber
*1992 - "Tycoon" adapted from the French musical "Starmania", music by Michel Berger and lyrics by Luc Plamondon
*1994 - "Beauty and the Beast" with music by Alan Menken, in additional to original lyrics by Howard Ashman
*1996 - "Heathcliff" with music by John Farrar
*1997 - "King David" with music by Alan Menken
*1998 - "Aida" with music by Elton John

Film and television work

In addition to adaptations of his theatrical productions, Rice has worked on several original film and television projects:
*1992 - "Aladdin" - music by Alan Menken. Completed work begun by Howard Ashman.
*1994 - "The Lion King" - music by Elton John, score by Hans Zimmer.
*2000 - "The Road to El Dorado" - Music by Elton John, score by Hans Zimmer and John Powell

Lyric Contributions

*"The Golden Boy" and "The Fallen Priest", recorded on Freddie Mercury's solo album Barcelona
*1981 concept album "1984" composed by Rick Wakeman and inspired by the George Orwell novel of the same title
*"The Second Time", "The Last One to Leave", "Hot As Sun" and "Falling Down to Earth" on Elaine Paige's 1981 self-titled album

Other work

*Co-produced the 1986 London and 1988 Broadway productions of Chess as a partner in 3 Knights Ltd with Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus.
*Co-produced the 1989 London production of Anything Goes as a partner in Anchorage Productions with Elaine Paige.
*Co-produced, with Andrew Powell, Elaine Paige's 1981 self-titled album

External links

* [http://www.timrice.co.uk Tim Rice Authorized Website]
*imdb name|id=0005358|name=Tim Rice
* [http://www.blondelmusical.com Tim Rice's 2006 revival of Blondel]
*Shof|id=175|Tim Rice