Julie Covington

Julie Covington (born 11 September 1946) is an English singer and actress, best known for recording the original version of "Don't Cry for Me Argentina", She won the first Edinburgh Festival Fringe Best Actress Award.

In 1971, she was cast in the original London production of Godspell at The Roundhouse, alongside David Essex, Jeremy Irons and Marti Webb. A recording of the production, featuring Covington's lead vocal on the track "Day by Day", was released in 1972. This was followed by a role in the hit Australian comedy film, The Adventures of Barry McKenzie. She was then cast as Janet Weiss in the original production of The Rocky Horror Show in 1973. and Edward in the original production of Caryl Churchill's Cloud Nine.

During the early 1970s she appeared in and sang in the children's television programme Play Away. She starred in the BBC's 1975 Christmas production Great Big Groovy Horse, a rock opera based on the story of the Trojan Horse, shown on BBC2. (It was repeated on BBC1 in 1977.) 1976 and 1977 saw her appearing in both series of the primetime British television musical drama Rock Follies. In 1976, the composer Andrew Lloyd Webber saw her perform in cabaret, and recognising her from Rock Follies, suggested to lyricist Tim Rice that she might be the actress to play the title role in their original studio recording of their musical Evita. Later offered the opportunity to originate the role in the stage production of Evita, she declined, which led to Elaine Paige being cast. Speaking in 1985, Covington expressed some regret at this decision, but explained that she did not like Eva Perón and that without some positive feeling for the person she preferred to turn the role down.

As Evita opened in 1978, she instead appeared with the English National Opera as Anna in The Seven Deadly Sins. Paige's successor in Evita, Marti Webb, later also played Anna in the ENO's production of The Seven Deadly Sins.

In 1978, Covington performed the role of Beth, wife of Parson Nathaniel (Phil Lynott), on the recording of "The Spirit of Man" from Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds.

In 1989 she took part in a British television special with Colm Wilkinson, Carol Woods and Paul Jones called Let's Face the Music of Lennon and McCartney. Her solo performances of "If I Fell" and "In My Life" are available on YouTube.

Albums

Solo albums While the Music Lasts (1967) The Party's Moving On (1969) The Beautiful Changes (1971) Julie Covington (1978) The Beautiful Changes Plus (1999) Julie Covington Plus (2000)

Cast recordings and soundtracks Godspell: Original London Cast Recording (1972) The Adventures of Barry McKenzie (1972) The Rocky Horror Show (1973) Hey You! Songs from Play Away (1975) Evita: An Opera Based on the life of Eva Peron (1919–1952) (1976; re-released 1996) Rock Follies (1976) The Mermaid Frolics (1977) – benefit for Amnesty International Rock Follies of '77 (1977) Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds (1978; remastered 2005) Guys and Dolls: National Cast Recording (1982) The Wildcliffe Bird (audio book) (1991) Guys and Dolls (1992)

Singles Year Single Chart PositionsUK AUS 1970"The Magic Wasn't There"——1972"Day by Day"——1973"Two Worlds Apart" (Demo only)——1976"Don't Cry for Me Argentina"111977"OK?" (with Rula Lenska, Charlotte Cornwell, Sue Jones-Davies)10—"Only Women Bleed"12—1978"(I Want to See the) Bright Lights"—581982"Housewives' Choice"—— "—" denotes releases that did not chart.

Awards Britannia Awards 1977 – "Best British Female Newcomer"