Allen's songs were made popular by many recording artists, including Elkie Brooks, Melissa Manchester and Olivia Newton-John, including Newton-John's first chart-topping hit "I Honestly Love You", and the chart-topping and Academy Award-winning "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" by Christopher Cross.
In addition to recording many albums, Allen enjoyed a cabaret and concert career, including appearances at the Radio City Music Hall riding a camel.
They met in October 1964, were engaged on 26 November 1964, married on 3 March 1967, formally separated on 8 April 1970, and divorced on 24 July 1974.
Allen remained ambiguous about his sexuality in that he did not pretend to be heterosexual after divorcing Minnelli, but never publicly came out as gay either.
"[8] Despite Allen's outgoing persona, he was an intensely private man who shared little about his personal life even with those close to him.
Allen's performing career began when he was 11, playing the piano in the ladies' lounge of the New England Hotel in Armidale.
Soon after his father's suicide, Allen left school with an Intermediate Certificate and moved to Lismore with his mother and sister to live with relatives.
[9] In 1964, Mark Herron, the husband of Judy Garland, discovered The Allen Brothers while they were performing in Hong Kong.
Allen scored his biggest success with the song "I Honestly Love You", which he co-wrote with Jeff Barry and which became a major hit in 1974 for Olivia Newton-John.
Her single reached number one in the United States and Canada and won two Grammy Awards, for Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for Newton-John.
One of his signature songs, "I Go to Rio", co-written with Adrienne Anderson, was popularized in America by the group Pablo Cruise.
In addition, Allen co-wrote the Patti LaBelle hit "I Don't Go Shopping", which reached the top 30 on the R&B chart in 1980.
In 1990, he recorded his final album on RCA Victor, Making Every Moment Count, which featured Melissa Manchester and Harry Connick Jr.
One of his songs, '"I Still Call Australia Home", became popular through its use in television commercials, initially for National Panasonic and, since 1987, for Qantas Airways.
[citation needed] Allen made his Broadway debut on 12 January 1971, in Soon, a rock opera that opened at the Ritz Theatre and ran for three performances.
Legs Diamond opened on Broadway at the Mark Hellinger Theatre on 26 December 1988, with a book co-written by Harvey Fierstein.
[16] Allen and Bernadette also performed in the 1983 Academy Award broadcast in an extended musical tribute to Irving Berlin.
[19][22][23] Allen spent so much time working in his yard that he imagined his neighbors thought he was a landscape gardener.
"[30] Allen and Gregory Connell (1949-1984) met when Greg and a mutual friend attended Peter's show at New York's Continental Baths in 1973.
"[43] Allen dedicated his 1985 album, Captured Live at Carnegie Hall, to Connell and sang songs in his memory at AIDS benefit concerts.
Allen spent several years getting his musical Legs Diamond on Broadway (it premiered in 1988), recorded his final album Making Every Moment Count in 1990, and continued performing in concerts and doing various benefits until his death in 1992 at the age of 48.
[49] A private memorial service was held on 21 June 1992, at his home in Leucadia, where his ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean within sight of his house.
Using his largely autobiographical songs, the production starred Todd McKenney as Allen and Christina Amphlett of the rock group Divinyls as Judy Garland.
Supporting roles were played by Rebecca Gibney as Marion Woolnough (Allen's mother), Sarah West as Liza Minnelli and Sigrid Thornton as Judy Garland.
[53] In the 1979 film All That Jazz, Allen's live rendition of "Everything Old Is New Again" is danced to by Ann Reinking and Erzebet Foldi for Roy Scheider's character Joe Gideon based on dancer Bob Fosse.
Hugh Jackman's performance of Allen's "Once Before I Go" (from The Boy from Oz) was featured in a montage dedicated to Alex Trebek in his final episode of Jeopardy!
which aired on 8 January 2021, exactly two months after Trebek's death from stage IV pancreatic cancer on 8 November 2020, at the age of 80.
Peter Allen was nominated twice for a Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1974 for "I Honestly Love You" and in 1981 for "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)".