Julie Covington

A singer and actress, Julie Covington was still a student in Cambridge when she landed a spot on a TV show with David Frost, which effectively launched her career. It won her a recording contract and a series of high profile singing/acting roles, including Godspell (1971) and The Rocky Horror Show (1973). It was as one of the prime characters in the TV series Rock Follies, however, that brought her to the attention of the public at large and she won the title role in the original studio recording of the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice musical Evita; resulting in the massive international hit Don't Cry For me Argentina, a UK Number 1 in 1977. However, she turned down the opportunity to replicate the role in the stage version (which went to Elaine Paige), but went on to play Beth in Jeff Wayne's musical, The War Of The Worlds. Covington made a series of albums under her own name and in 1978 had another hit with covers of Alice Cooper's Only Women Bleed (1977) and Richard Thompson's I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight (1978). She subsequently concentrated on her theatre work, notably Guys & Dolls, and TV appearances.