Lloyd Webber, Andrew (1948- )

English composer and theatre owner. His early musicals, with lyrics by Tim Rice, include Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1968), Jesus Christ Superstar (1971), and Evita (1978). He also wrote the hugely successful Cats (1981), based on T S Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, Starlight Express (1984), The Phantom of the Opera (1986), Aspects of Love (1989), and The Beautiful Game (2000). His company, The Really Useful Group, owns seven London theatres.

He produced a film version of The Phantom of the Opera, directed by Joel Schumacher, in 2004. Other works include Variations for Cello (1978), written for his cellist brother Julian Lloyd Webber (1951- ), and a Requiem Mass (1985). He was knighted in 1992 and received a life peerage in 1997.

In 1997 Lloyd Webber's Cats became the longest-running show in Broadway history.