Tim Rice has worked in music, theatre and films since 1965 when he met Andrew Lloyd Webber, a fellow struggling songwriter.
Rather than pursue Tim’s ambitions to write rock or pop songs they turned their attention to Andrew’s obsession—musical theatre. Their first collaboration (lyrics by Tim, music by Andrew) was an unsuccessful show based on the life of Dr. Barnardo, the Victorian philanthropist, The Likes Of Us. Their next three works together were much more successful—Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita.
Tim has since worked with other distinguished popular composers such as Elton John (The Lion King, Aida), Alan Menken (Aladdin, King David, Beauty and the Beast), Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson (Chess) and most recently, Stuart Brayson (From Here To Eternity).
A new production of From Here To Eternity made its début at the Finger Lakes Musical Theatre, New York, in June 2016, and played in the Fall of 2017 at the Ogunquit Playhouse in Maine. In December 2016 selections from the score were performed at three official events to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Further US productions are in the works.
In March 2017, two films with new Tim Rice material were released. Disney’s fresh interpretation of Beauty and the Beast, directed by Bill Condon, features three new songs written with Alan Menken, and the latest Roger Goldby film, Time of Their Lives, starring Joan Collins and Pauline Collins, features "Morty and Me," a song written with Pete Hobbs, sung by Sophie Ellis-Bextor.
He formed his own cricket team in 1973 and was President of MCC in 2002. He is a regular broadcaster/presenter on BBC Radio 2, drawing on his extensive knowledge of the history of popular music since Elvis was a lad. He has won several awards,* mainly for the wrong thing or for simply turning up, but in 2018 became one of only 15 people to reach EGOT status, when the NBC production of Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert won an Emmy for Outstanding Variety Special.
*3 Oscars, 3 Tonys, 3 Golden Globes, 5 Grammys, 13 Ivor Novello Awards, Hollywood Walk of Fame, etc.