Sarah Brightman went on to star in several West End and Broadway musicals, including The Phantom of the Opera, where she originated the role of Christine Daae.
58 Facts About Sarah Brightman
2.
Sarah Brightman has been credited as the creator and remains among the most prominent performers of this genre, with worldwide sales of more than 25 million albums and two million DVDs, establishing herself as the world's best-selling soprano.
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Sarah Brightman has collected over 200 gold and platinum record awards in 38 countries.
4.
Sarah Brightman is the first artist to have been invited twice to perform the theme song at the Olympic Games, first at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games where she sang "Amigos Para Siempre" with the Spanish tenor Jose Carreras with an estimated global audience of a billion people, and 16 years later in 2008 in Beijing, this time with Chinese singer Liu Huan, performing the song "You and Me" to an estimated four billion people worldwide.
5.
Sarah Brightman was brought up in Little Gaddesden near Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England.
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Sarah Brightman then went on to perform in local festivals and competitions.
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Sarah Brightman received her education at Elmhurst Ballet School, Birmingham, the Arts Educational School in Chiswick, West London, and the Royal College of Music.
8.
In 1973, at the age of 13, Sarah Brightman made her theatrical debut in the musical I and Albert at the Piccadilly Theatre, London, playing one of Queen Victoria's daughters.
9.
Sarah Brightman was briefly with Pan's People after they parted with their host show Top of the Pops in 1976.
10.
In 1979, Sarah Brightman appeared on the soundtrack of the film The World Is Full of Married Men and sang the song "Madam Hyde".
11.
In 1981, Sarah Brightman auditioned for the new musical Cats, by composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, and was cast as Jemima.
12.
In 1985, Sarah Brightman's recording of "Pie Jesu" was a strong commercial success, selling 25,000 copies on the first day of release and peaking at number 3, despite the lyrics being in Latin.
13.
Sarah Brightman starred as Christine Daae in Lloyd Webber's adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera.
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Sarah Brightman sang the song "Make Believe" during the credits of the children's film Grandpa; Howard Blake composed the music and wrote the lyrics.
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Sarah Brightman was a subject of the television programme This Is Your Life in 1989 when she was surprised by Michael Aspel at RAF Wittering in Lincolnshire.
16.
Sarah Brightman's subsequent solo album, As I Came of Age, was an eclectic collection of folk-rock and musical theatre songs that Brightman herself chose.
17.
The lead single from the album, "Time to Say Goodbye", was the second song that Sarah Brightman debuted at the World Boxing Championship in Germany.
18.
Sarah Brightman personally selected each song and convinced the Italian composer Ennio Morricone to let her set lyrics to one of his film compositions, "Gabriel's Oboe" from the film The Mission resulting in "Nella Fantasia".
19.
At her 2000 PBS La Luna concert, Sarah Brightman sang "There for Me" in a duet with an up-and-coming star, Josh Groban.
20.
In 2001, Sarah Brightman released Classics, an anthology including highlights from three of Sarah Brightman's chart-topping releases along with seven new tracks; this was released worldwide except Europe.
21.
On Harem, Sarah Brightman collaborated with artists such as Ofra Haza and Iraqi singer Kazem al-Saher.
22.
Sarah Brightman released a DVD collection of her music videos on 3 October 2006 under the title of Diva: The Video Collection.
23.
The album marked the first time Sarah Brightman released a greatest hits album in the United States; it reached No 1 on the Billboard Top Classical Crossover Albums chart.
24.
On 1 July 2007, Sarah Brightman appeared at the Concert for Diana held at Wembley Stadium, London, an event organised to celebrate the life of Princess Diana of Wales, where she sang "All I Ask of You" from The Phantom of the Opera with Josh Groban.
25.
On 7 July 2007 Sarah Brightman performed four songs at the Live Earth Concert Series, and debuted her single "Running" at the 2007 IAAF Championships in Osaka, Japan.
26.
On 29 January 2008, Sarah Brightman released her first album in five years: Symphony, influenced by gothic music.
27.
Special guests who sang duets with Sarah Brightman include Italian tenor Alessandro Safina, Argentinean countertenor Fernando Lima, and British singer Chris Thompson.
28.
Sarah Brightman performed "Pie Jesu" and "There You'll Be" at the United States Memorial Day concert on 25 May 2008 held on the west lawn of the United States Capitol in Washington, DC The show was broadcast live on PBS before a concert audience of 300,000, as well as to American troops serving around the world on the American Forces Radio and Television Network.
29.
Sarah Brightman was cast in the film at the last minute after the original actress who was cast for the role was dropped.
30.
On 8 August 2008, Sarah Brightman sang the Olympic theme song, "You and Me", with Chinese star Liu Huan in both Mandarin and English at the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony.
31.
Sarah Brightman released her first holiday album, entitled A Winter Symphony on 4 November 2008.
32.
The music of Sarah Brightman was featured in the film Amarufi: Megami no hoshu, which was a special production to mark Fuji Television's 50th anniversary, the first Japanese film to be shot entirely on location in Italy.
33.
Sarah Brightman performed "The Concert of the Pyramid" at the archaeological site of Chichen Itza, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.
34.
One year later, in 2010, Sarah Brightman continued touring Asia with five performances in Tokyo alone, followed by presentations in Kanazawa, Nagoya, Osaka in Japan, Macau in China and Seoul in South Korea.
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On 3 November 2010, Sarah Brightman was invited to sing at the Todai-ji Buddhist temple complex located in the city of Nara, Japan.
36.
In early 2012, Sarah Brightman received the UNESCO Artist for Peace Award for her "commitment to humanitarian and charitable causes, her contribution, throughout her artistic career, to the promotion of cultural dialogue and the exchanges among cultures, and her dedication to the ideals and aims of the Organization".
37.
Sarah Brightman was appointed as Panasonic's global brand ambassador, and is the face of Panasonic's strategic partnership agreement with the UNESCO World Heritage Centre as she starred in their joint campaign, "The World Heritage Special," that was aired on the National Geographic Channel worldwide.
38.
On 10 October 2012, Sarah Brightman hosted a press conference in Moscow announcing her intention to become a space tourist on a future orbital spaceflight mission to the International Space Station in partnership with Space Adventures, Ltd.
39.
On 16 April 2013, Sarah Brightman's released her eleventh studio album, Dreamchaser.
40.
Sarah Brightman was given a knighthood in the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, with the honorific Cavaliere, on 2 June 2016 and an honorary doctorate from the University of Hertfordshire in 2018, in recognition of her outstanding contributions to music and theatre.
41.
On 2 June 2016, Sarah Brightman was bestowed the Italian decoration 'Cavaliere' in the Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana by the Consul General of Italy, Francesco Genuardi.
42.
Once finished in March 2017, Sarah Brightman had presented 25 shows in three different continents.
43.
On 27 March 2017, Sarah Brightman co-headlined the concert tour Royal Christmas Gala, along with Gregorian, Mario Frangoulis, Narcis Iustin Ianau, and Fernando Varela.
44.
In 2022, Sarah Brightman became a judge of the talent competition show Yoshiki Superstar Project X, airing on Hulu Japan and produced by Yoshiki.
45.
Sarah Brightman underwent vocal training first with Elizabeth Hawes, head of the Trinity Music College in London, and later with Ellen Faull of Juilliard.
46.
Sarah Brightman can produce a pop, contemporary sound, but she can blossom out into a light lyric soprano.
47.
Sarah Brightman doesn't sing it full out, but it is there.
48.
Sarah Brightman sometimes uses her pop and classical voices in the same song.
49.
Sarah Brightman's work has been compared to that of Madonna, Cher and Celine Dion.
50.
At age 18, in 1979, Sarah Brightman married Andrew Graham-Stewart, who at that time managed the German band Tangerine Dream.
51.
Sarah Brightman later met Andrew Lloyd Webber when she performed in Cats.
52.
Lloyd Webber and Sarah Brightman married on 22 March 1984 and their relationship quickly became the subject of intense media and tabloid scrutiny until their divorce in 1990.
53.
Sarah Brightman appeared as a special guest in her 1997 concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
54.
Sarah Brightman had a 10-year relationship with Frank Peterson, during which they tried and were unsuccessful in having children.
55.
On 8 February 2012, Sarah Brightman accepted the UNESCO nomination to be an "Artist for Peace" Ambassador.
56.
On 27 June 2013, the Reignwood Group announced at the Beijing Theatre that Sarah Brightman would be a promotional ambassador for its 10 Trinity Square, a landmark in the Reignwood Group's global expansion, in London for the next four years.
57.
Sarah Brightman has received over 180 Gold and Platinum sales awards in over 40 countries.
58.
Sarah Brightman was awarded the decoration 'Cavaliere' in the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic on 2 June 2016.