Sir Tim Rice

When we think of a musical, most of us may be able to hum a tune or two from the show. It is rarer for the lyrics to inspire immediate recall but Tim Rice’s lyrics do just that…

Whether it is “Don’t cry for me Argentina” from Evita, the title song of “Jesus Christ, Superstar”, “A Whole New World” from Aladdin or “Can You Feel the Love tonight”, “The Circle of Life” and “Hakuna Matata” from The Lion King, Sir Tim has created some of the most iconic lyrics in the modern musical.

His great skill at lyric writing has been widely acclaimed. He has been awarded 3 Tonys (from 9 nominations) winning two for Evita and one for Aida, the former written with Andrew Lloyd Webber and the latter with Elton John. He has also won 3 Oscars (from 4 nominations) for Evita, The Lion King and Aladdin, likewise 3 Grammys for Evita, Aladdin and Aida. His Emmy for the much praised television adaptation of Jesus Christ Superstar placed him in the very rare EGOT club, one of only 8 living people who have won all four of these major awards. And only the second Englishman to enter the club, the first being Sir John Gielgud!

Tim was born in Buckinghamshire in 1944 and went to both Lancing College in Sussex and the Sorbonne in Paris. He was 19 when he met a budding composer called Andrew Lloyd Webber, who then dropped out of Oxford so that they could start working together. Their first musical, The Likes of Us, didn’t set the world on fire, but their second Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat most certainly did and is still going strong, with a production about to re-open in London’s West End. They went on to also write Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita and most recently worked together in 2011 when they created several new songs for a stage version of The Wizard of Oz.

When Tim and Andrew moved on from their partnership, Tim remained extremely busy. Working with two of members of Abba, he wrote Chess, which enjoyed a successful revival in Washington in 2018. He also began new partnerships with Alan Menken and Elton John that created two of the best loved Disney musicals; Aladdin and The Lion King. He again worked with Elton on the new musical Aida, which is being remounted this year for an American tour.

Aside from writing musicals Tim has an encyclopaedic knowledge of popular music which he has used to great effect not just in hosting the occasional radio show on the BBC but also when he co- founded the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles. He launched a very well regarded publishing house in the 1980s and also wrote an autobiography, Oh What a Circus.

Tim was knighted by Her Majesty the Queen in 1994. He was inducted in the US Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1999 and was rightly named a “Disney Legend” in 2002. His star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was unveiled in 2008.

Tim has long been a member and supporter of The London Library and we were honoured that he agreed to become the President of the Library in 2017.