Sarah Brightman
Sarah Brightman (born 14 August 1960)[1] is an English classical crossover soprano singer, actress, and dancer.
Cavaliere
Sarah Brightman
14 August 1960
- Singer
- actress
- dancer
1978–present
-
Andrew Graham-Stewart(m. 1979; div. 1983)
Amelia Brightman (sister)
- Classical crossover
- operatic pop
- world
- musical theatre
Vocals, piano
Brightman began her career as a member of the dance troupe Hot Gossip and released several disco singles as a solo performer. In 1981, she made her West End musical theatre debut in Cats and met composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, whom she later married. She went on to star in several West End and Broadway musicals, including The Phantom of the Opera, where she originated the role of Christine Daaé. Her original London cast album of Phantom was released in CD format in 1987 and sold 40 million copies worldwide, making it the biggest-selling cast album ever.[2]
After retiring from stage acting and divorcing Lloyd Webber, Brightman resumed her music career with former Enigma producer Frank Peterson, this time as a classical crossover artist. She has been credited as the creator and remains among the most prominent performers of this genre, with worldwide sales of more than 25 million albums and two million DVDs, establishing herself as the world's best-selling soprano.[3][4][5][6]
Brightman's 1996 duet with the Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, "Time to Say Goodbye", topped the charts all over Europe and became the highest and fastest-selling single of all time in Germany, where it stayed at the top of the charts for 14 consecutive weeks and sold over three million copies.[7][8] It subsequently became an international success, selling 12 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling singles of all-time.[9][10][11] She has collected over 200 gold and platinum record awards in 38 countries.[12] In 2010, she was named by Billboard the fifth most influential and best-selling classical artist of the 2000s decade in the US[13] and according to Nielsen SoundScan, she has sold 6.5 million albums in the country.[14]
Brightman is the first artist to have been invited twice to perform the theme song at the Olympic Games, first at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games where she sang "Amigos Para Siempre" with the Spanish tenor José Carreras with an estimated global audience of a billion people, and 16 years later in 2008 in Beijing, this time with Chinese singer Liu Huan, performing the song "You and Me" to an estimated four billion people worldwide.[15]
In 2012, Brightman was appointed as the UNESCO Artist for Peace for the period 2012–2014, for her "commitment to humanitarian and charitable causes, her contribution, throughout her artistic career, to the promotion of cultural dialogue and the exchanges among cultures, and her dedication to the ideals and aims of the Organization".[16] Since 2010, Brightman has been Panasonic's global brand ambassador.[17]
Family and early life[edit]
Brightman is the eldest of six children of businessman Geoffrey Brightman (1934[18]–1992) and Paula Brightman, née Hall.[19] She was brought up in Little Gaddesden near Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England.[20] At the age of three she began taking dance and piano classes. She
then went on to perform in local festivals and competitions.[21] At age 11, she successfully auditioned for the Tring Park School for the Performing Arts, a school specialising in performing arts.[22]
She received her education at Elmhurst Ballet School, Camberley,[23] the Arts Educational School in Chiswick, West London,[22] and the Royal College of Music.[24]
In 1973, at the age of 13, Brightman made her theatrical debut in the musical I and Albert at the Piccadilly Theatre, London, playing one of Queen Victoria's daughters (Victoria).
In 1976 she was recruited into Arlene Phillips' troupe Hot Gossip in 1977. The group had a disco hit in 1978 with "I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper", which sold half a million and reached number six on the UK charts. She was also briefly with Pan's People after they parted with their host show Top of the Pops in 1976. Brightman, now solo, released more disco singles under her own label, Whisper Records, such as "Not Having That!" and a cover of the song "My Boyfriend's Back".[25] In 1979, Brightman appeared on the soundtrack of the film The World Is Full of Married Men and sang the song "Madam Hyde".
Career[edit]
1981–1989: Stage career[edit]
In 1981, Brightman auditioned for the new musical Cats, by composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, and was cast as Jemima. After a year in Cats, Brightman took over from Bonnie Langford as Kate in The Pirates of Penzance at the Drury Lane Theatre, London, and appeared as Tara Treetops in Masquerade, a musical based on Kit Williams's book of the same title. In that year she left to play the title role in Charles Strouse's children's opera, Nightingale.[26]
Enticed by a rave review, Lloyd Webber went to watch her in the show one evening and was greatly impressed by her performance. Though she had appeared in his musical Cats, Lloyd Webber had not previously singled Brightman out as a great talent. The two married in 1984, and Brightman appeared in Lloyd Webber's subsequent musicals including The Phantom of the Opera and Song and Dance, as well as the mass Requiem, which was written and composed for Lloyd Webber's father.[26]
Personal life[edit]
At age 18, in 1979, Brightman married Andrew Graham-Stewart, who at that time managed the German band Tangerine Dream.[131] She later met Andrew Lloyd Webber when she performed in Cats. In 1983, Brightman divorced Graham-Stewart and later that same year, Lloyd Webber divorced his first wife, Sarah Hugill, with whom he had two children.[132] Lloyd Webber and Brightman married on 22 March 1984 and their relationship quickly became the subject of intense media and tabloid scrutiny until their divorce in 1990. They are on friendly terms; in 2006, at the 20th London anniversary of The Phantom of the Opera, Lloyd Webber called Brightman a "wonderful woman" and "absolutely beloved mentor", and she performed at the 25th anniversary of the musical in 2011. He appeared as a special guest in her 1997 concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Brightman had a 10-year relationship with Frank Peterson, during which they tried and were unsuccessful in having children. In a 2006 interview with British magazine Hello!, she said motherhood would have been "lovely" but accepted that she would never have a child.[133]
Charity work[edit]
On 8 February 2012, Brightman accepted the UNESCO nomination to be an "Artist for Peace" Ambassador.[134] Additionally, she is actively engaged in Panasonic's UNESCO World Heritage Centre endeavours, and stars in their The World Heritage Special campaign.
In 2012, in conjunction with Virgin Galactic, the Brightman STEM Scholarship program (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) was launched. It will help young women in the US pursue STEM education across their four-year college careers.
On 27 June 2013, the Reignwood Group announced at the Beijing Theatre that Brightman would be a promotional ambassador for its 10 Trinity Square, a landmark in the Reignwood Group's global expansion, in London for the next four years. This is the second time for the group to cooperate with an influential artist, the first being with tenor Plácido Domingo, in 2008.[135]
In November 2013, Brightman donated US$533,000 to those affected by Hurricane Ingrid in the Mexican state of Guerrero—the entire profit from her sold-out show in Mexico City on 13 November 2013.[136]
On 30 October 2013, Brightman announced through the media that she was honoured to be part of the Advisory Council for the Challenger Center, the non-profit science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) education organisation, stating "[t]hrough my partnership with the Challenger Center, I hope to inspire in children the same wonder and excitement for space exploration that I feel myself." Challenger Center and its network of more than 40 Challenger Learning Centers engage students in hands-on experiences that strengthen knowledge in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and inspire students to pursue careers in these important fields.[137]
In April 2014, Brightman participated as an orchestra director in Parkinson's UK Symfunny at the Royal Albert Hall 4 June, with the aim of funding research to find a cure for the disease.[138]
In July 2015, the inaugural Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation Sarah Brightman Music Scholarships were also awarded to their first recipients. The scholarships will support students in their postgraduate studies at the Royal Northern College of Music on the two-year Master of Music Programme.