Tim Rice

Tim Rice, born Timothy Miles Bindon Rice on 10 November 1944 in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, is an English lyricist whose work has shaped modern musical theatre, film songs, and concept albums. After leaving school, he worked briefly as an articled clerk for a London law firm, while pursuing music. In 1965, he met the young composer Andrew Lloyd Webber; their partnership produced some of the most commercially consequential British stage musicals of the following decades. Rice supplied lyrics, narrative structure, and character voices, often turning historical, biblical, or political subjects into pop-inflected theatrical stories that travelled successfully between stage and record.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat began as a 1968 pop cantata for a school performance and developed into a musical. Its score includes “Any Dream Will Do” and “Close Every Door.” Rice and Lloyd Webber followed it with Jesus Christ Superstar, first issued as a 1970 album before its 1971 Broadway opening. Told through Judas Iscariot’s troubled perspective, the rock opera generated songs including “I Don’t Know How to Love Him,” “Gethsemane,” and “Superstar.” Their Evita, based on Eva Perón, opened in London in 1978 after a 1976 concept album; “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” became its signature hit.

Rice’s later collaborations reached far beyond Lloyd Webber. With the Swedish songwriting team Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus of ABBA, he wrote Chess, whose 1984 double album produced the singles “One Night in Bangkok” and “I Know Him So Well.” The stage version premiered in London in 1986, using a Cold War chess tournament as its framework. With Elton John, Rice wrote the lyrics for Disney’s 1994 animated film The Lion King, including “Circle of Life,” “Hakuna Matata,” and “Can You Feel the Love Tonight.” He and John subsequently created Aida, which opened on Broadway in 2000 and ran successfully.

Rice’s awards reflect the reach of this catalogue. He won Academy Awards for Best Original Song with Alan Menken for “A Whole New World” from Aladdin and with Elton John for “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” from The Lion King. His Emmy came in 2018 as a producer of Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert. He had won Grammy, Oscar, and Tony awards, making him an EGOT recipient. In 2020, he was knighted for services to music, receiving title Sir Tim Rice. Alongside writing, he has presented BBC Radio 2 programmes and served as president of the London Library.