Grammy Award winner Yvonne Elliman appearing at Villa Victoria Academy for 50th anniversary Jesus Christ Superstar screening
Yvonne Elliman began playing piano as a little girl in Manoa Hawaii, but it was the guitar she was drawn to. Her musical career took off practically right out of high school. She went on to have several hit songs such as “I Don’t Know How to Love Him,” from the musical and movie Jesus Christ Superstar; “Love Me”; a cover of Barbara Lewis’ “Hello Stranger”; and a U.S. number one hit with “If I Can’t Have You,” which was featured in the film Saturday Night Fever.
Elliman will be appearing at Villa Victoria Academy, 376 Upper Ferry Rd., Ewing, along with Ted Neeley, who played Jesus, and other cast members, for the 50th Annual Film Screening of Jesus Christ Superstar on December 9.
In the film, Elliman plays Mary Magdalene, which led to a 1974 Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Comedy or Musical.
Making a public appearance with Neeley at this event, Elliman has come full circle. Jesus Christ Superstar was the musical that put her career on the map in 1971 when she had her first Billboard Hot 100 hit single, “I Don’t Know How to Love Him.”
Elliman began her musical career in high school. She was a guitarist and singer for a folk band, We Folk, with schoolmates. They did very well in local talent shows. At her high school graduation, she sang Janis Ian’s “Society’s Child.”
It was her school’s British-born band teacher, Peter Wilcox, who encouraged her to relocate to London to pursue a musical career. “I just wanted to be where The Beatles were,” she said.
She ended up living with a prominent family who had a nice place. She purchased a bear skin rug, got out her guitar, and sang in the streets of Piccadilly Circus. “People were throwing money at me,” Elliman said. “I made enough money so I could buy my weed that night.”
Soon Elliman began performing in bars and clubs. While still an unknown, she was discovered by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber. They wanted her to sing Mary Magdalene’s part for the original audio recording of Jesus Christ Superstar which was performed by Ian Gillan as Jesus.
“Andrew Lloyd Webber came up to me and said, ‘You’re Mary Magdalene.’ He took me to this flat. He played the song [“I Don’t Know How to Love Him”]. I thought, ‘That’s a beautiful song. It’s not preaching religion. It’s about this wonderful man. [Jesus],” she said.
Elliman, didn’t come from a strict religious background, but shared that she believes in parables and the things Jesus spoke of. She said, “My mom’s Japanese and has Buddhist beliefs. She won’t kill an ant. My dad was Christian, but not heavily so.”
After the Jesus Christ Superstar album was released in 1970, Rice and Webber invited her to join the stage show’s traveling cast. She was only 19 and said she was bored. She wanted to sing rock and roll. “That’s where my heart was,” she explained.
While she was living in New York City for the Broadway production of Jesus Christ Superstar she met her first husband, Bill Oakes, who was president of Robert Stigwood’s RSO Records. She gave them a “list” that was “the opposite of ‘good Mary’.”
“I wanted to sing something down and dirty,” she expressed.
After two solo albums, Elliman was asked to sing back-up vocals on Eric Clapton’s version of the Bob Marley song, “I Shot the Sheriff” in 1974. This was exciting for Elliman because she loved Clapton’s music.
“I loved Cream. I loved Derek and the Dominos,” she said. She sang the harmony part of the song and that’s where her heart was.
On her next album, Love Me, two Top-20 hits were released: “Love Me,” which was written by Barry and Robin Gibb; and a Barbara Lewis cover, “Hello Stranger.”
“Hello Stranger” topped the U.S. Easy Listening chart for four weeks and was also a No. 15 pop hit in 1977. “Love Me” was a No. 14 pop hit in late 1976/early 1977.
During 1977, the Bee Gees were working on Saturday Night Fever. They wrote “How Deep is Your Love” for Elliman, but Stigwood wanted the Bee Gees to perform it. Instead, she performed “If I Can’t Have You” which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Elliman shared that she always had a feeling something big was going to happen musically. “I loved it so much,” she said. “It was the only thing I knew how to do. It’s the only way people could notice me or accept me.”
She felt she road “an amazing wave.”
Elliman was married to RSO Records executive Bill Oakes from 1972 to 1980. Then she married songwriter Wade Hyman in 1981 and had two children. They later separated and divorced.
In 2016 she married Allen Alexander. “I fell in love with him,” she expressed. “I finally found my partner in life. My life feels complete. I got everything I want.”
In her spare time Elliman likes to garden, growing eggplants, basil, and marijuana. She also does crafty things and draws portraits.
To join Jesus Christ Superstar original cast members Ted Neeley, Yvonne Elliman, Bob Bingham, and Kurt Yaghijian for the final 50th Anniversary Celebration of the landmark motion picture, purchase tickets at: https://www.showtix4u.com/event-details/73960
