BBC Radio 2 presents the songs of Andrew Lloyd Webber

Andrew Lloyd Webber tracks are to be performed as ‘never heard before’ to mark his 70th birthday.

“What a great way to say Happy Birthday! We wanted to make this show to prove how great these songs are and how they stand up to interpretation. These really are at the core of The Great British Songbook and will be performed and interpreted for generations to come.” – Lewis Carnie, Head of Radio 2

This Easter BBC Radio 2 will broadcast four programmes to celebrate the 70th birthday of one of Britain’s most successful composers, Andrew Lloyd Webber. Jo Whiley presents Andrew Lloyd Webber – Variations, starring artists who’ve been asked to select and perform a famous hit from the master’s songbook.

In this programme, Rick Astley records Don’t Cry For Me Argentina, Ronan Keating performs Tell me On A Sunday, Holly Johnson sings his version of As If We Never Said Goodbye and Anne-Marie performs Whistle Down The Wind along with many, many other interpretations of Webber songs by other artists too.

In addition, Melanie C, who played Mary Magdalene in the hit 2012 arena tour of Jesus Christ Superstar, will present the story of this hit rock opera from the early seventies that shot Andrew Lloyd Webber to fame. The Superstar Story will see contributions from performers, producers, directors and critics including Tony Hadley, Murray Head, Paul Nicholas, Marcia Hines, Cameron Mackintosh, Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber himself. And in other programming, Jonathan Ross will contribute to the celebrations with Jonathan Ross On Andrew Lloyd Webber and Michael Ball will introduce rarely-heard interviews with the composer from the 1970s in Andrew Lloyd Webber at The BBC.

“These are all such wonderful songs; all of our listeners will have their own favourites. Now they can hear them again, but in a completely different way. I am sure many like me, can’t wait to hear the new versions.” – Jo Whiley