Peter Allen

Peter Allen born Peter Richard Woolnough 10 February 1944 18 June 1992 was an Australian singersongwriter musician and entertainer known for his flamboyant stage persona boundless energy and lavish costumes His songs were made popular by many recording artists including Elkie Brooks Melissa Manchester and Olivia NewtonJohn including NewtonJohns first chart topping hit I Honestly Love You and the chart topping and Academy Award winning Arthurs Theme Best That You Can Do by Christopher Cross In addition to recording many albums he enjoyed a cabaret and concert career including appearances at the Radio City Music Hall riding a camel His patriotic song I Still Call Australia Home has been used extensively in advertising campaigns and was added to the National Film and Sound Archives Sounds of Australia registry in 2013 Allen was the first husband of Liza Minnelli They married on 3 March 1967 separated on 9 April 1970 and were divorced on 24 July 1974 He had a longterm partner model Gregory Connell 19491984 They were together from 1974 until Connells death in 1984 Allen and Connell died from AIDSrelated illnesses eight years apart with Allen becoming one of the first wellknown Australians to die from AIDS Allen remained ambiguous about his sexuality in that he did not pretend to be straight after divorcing Minnelli but never publicly came out as gay either He explained I was as out as a notout celebrity could be then Despite Allens outgoing persona he was an intensely private man who shared little about his personal life even with those close to him Few people knew he had HIVAIDS partly in fear of alienating his conservative heterosexual fans and thinking audiences would not want to see a performer they knew was sick Description above from the Wikipedia article Peter Allen licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia