Tim Rice

As the lyricist for some of the biggest musicals of the 20th century, Sir Tim Rice is one of the most celebrated figures in musical theatre, responsible for a multitude of modern standards. Born in Buckinghamshire, England on November 10, 1944, Rice attended the Sorbonne before entering the music world on the business side, working in management for EMI and becoming a producer in the late '60s. But at the same time, he'd begun his career as a lyricist with a bang, writing the songs for 1968's smash Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he would go on to create more classic material. The pair brought the New Testament and rock 'n' roll together in the pioneering, hugely successful Jesus Christ Superstar in 1970, which generated the hits "I Don't Know How to Love Him" and "Superstar" (not to be confused with the '70s Carpenters hit of the same name). They collaborated on the classic show Evita in 1976, which included the ubiquitous hit "Don't Cry For Me Argentina." The '80s and '90s proved to be just as successful for Rice, as he worked with other composers on a string of huge hits. He wrote 1984's Chess with Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus of ABBA, giving the world the smash "One Night in Bangkok." Rice and Alan Menken wrote 1994's Beauty and the Beast and partnered with pop titan Elton John to write 1997's enormously successful show The Lion King. John and Rice partnered again for 2000's Aida, a theatrical version of Verdi's opera. Rice teamed up with Webber one more time, for their 2011 update of The Wizard of Oz, but afterwards he declared that it would be their last, stating the pair were "not relevant as a team any more." The same year, Rice contributed to the Alan Menken-composed Aladdin. Over the years, much of Rice's work has also been adapted for film, including Aladdin, The Lion King, and Beauty and the Beast.