:Peter Allen (musician)

Allen was born Peter Richard Woolnough on 10 February 1944, to Richard John Woolnough, soldier and grocer, and his wife, Marion Bryden (née Davidson), at Prince Albert Memorial Hospital in Tenterfield, New South Wales, a small Australian country town where his grandfather, George Woolnough, worked as a saddler. He had one sibling, a younger sister named Lynne. Allen grew up in nearby Armidale and lived there from about six weeks of age until he was 14. This is also where he first learned piano and dance. Allen's performing career began when he was 11, playing the piano in the ladies' lounge of the New England Hotel in Armidale.{{Cite Australian Dictionary of Biography|id2=allen-peter-17370|title=Allen, Peter (1944–1992)|last=Arrow|first=Michelle}} His father became a violent alcoholic after returning from World War II.{{Cite web |url=http://soda.naa.gov.au/record/5638046/1 |title=Service Record |website=Soda.naa.gov.au |access-date=9 April 2020 |archive-date=18 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181018072920/http://soda.naa.gov.au/record/5638046/1 |url-status=dead }} In November 1958, he committed suicide by gunshot when Allen was 14. Soon after his father's suicide, Allen left school with an Intermediate Certificate and moved to Lismore with his mother and sister to live with relatives.{{sfn|MacLean|2015|loc=ch. 4, pars. 23, 29}} His grandfather, George Woolnough, never understood or got over this devastating event. This tale is told in Allen's 1972 song, "Tenterfield Saddler".

In 1959, Allen went to Surfers Paradise to look for work and met Chris Bell, an English-born singer-guitarist. Assisted by Chris Bell's father, Peter, and inspired by The Everly Brothers, they formed a singing duo called The Allen Brothers. Allen began performing as "Peter Allen" around the same time. Within a year, they were based in Sydney performing on the Australian music television program Bandstand. In 1964, Mark Herron, the husband of Judy Garland, discovered The Allen Brothers while they were performing in Hong Kong. They became Judy Garland's opening act when she toured. Charmed by Allen, Judy served as a matchmaker between him and her daughter, Liza Minnelli. The Allen Brothers Act broke up in the spring of 1970.{{AllMusic|class=artist|id=mn0000314155|tab=biography|author=William Ruhlmann}}

Allen started releasing solo recordings in 1971, but throughout his career achieved greater success through his songs being recorded by others. Allen scored his biggest success with the song "I Honestly Love You", which he co-wrote with Jeff Barry and which became a major hit in 1974 for Olivia Newton-John. Her single reached number one in the United States and Canada and won two Grammy Awards, for Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for Newton-John. Allen also co-wrote "Don't Cry Out Loud" with Carole Bayer Sager, popularized by Melissa Manchester in 1978, and "I'd Rather Leave While I'm in Love", also co-written with Bayer Sager and popularized by Rita Coolidge in 1979. One of his signature songs, "I Go to Rio", co-written with Adrienne Anderson, was popularized in America by the group Pablo Cruise.

In 1976, Allen released an album, Taught by Experts, which reached number one in Australia, along with the number one single "I Go to Rio" and the Top 10 hit of a Harry Warren standard "The More I See You". The album also included the song "Quiet Please, There's A Lady On Stage" which was recorded by many artists including Jack Jones and Dusty Springfield. Although his recording career in the US never progressed, he performed in Atlantic City and at Carnegie Hall. He had three extended sold-out engagements at New York City's Radio City Music Hall, where he became the first male dancer to dance with The Rockettes and rode a camel during "I Go to Rio". This performance was broadcast live and exclusively on subscription television service WHT The Movie Network.{{YouTube|id=92eXJSKhbS8#t=1m8s|title=Wometco Home Theater/Peter Allen and the Rockettes TV Commercial}}

Allen's most successful album was Bi-Coastal (1980), produced by David Foster and featuring the single "Fly Away", which in 1981 became his only US chart single, reaching No. 55 on the Billboard Hot 100. In addition, Allen co-wrote the Patti LaBelle hit "I Don't Go Shopping", which reached the top 30 on the R&B chart in 1980.

Allen co-wrote the song "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" with Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager and Christopher Cross, for the 1981 film Arthur. The song reached number one in the US and the songwriters won an Academy Award for Best Song. One lyric for the song, "If you get caught between the moon and New York City", was adapted from an earlier song that he and Bayer Sager co-wrote. Allen and Bayer Sager also co-wrote "You and Me (We Wanted It All)", which was recorded by Frank Sinatra for his 1980 album Trilogy. A video of Sinatra singing the song at Carnegie Hall was included as part of the Sinatra: New York live performance box set, released in late 2009.

Allen performed on Australian television for many important occasions: in front of Queen Elizabeth II in 1980 at the Sydney Opera House, before Prince Charles and Princess Diana, once in Melbourne and again in Sydney in 1981, at the opening of the Sydney Entertainment Centre in 1983, where he unveiled for the first time his Australian "Flag" shirt, and the 1980 VFL Grand Final in Melbourne. His "Up in One Concert" of 1980 was a big ratings success across the country. When Australia won the America's Cup in 1983, he flew to Perth to sing before an audience of 100,000. In 1988, he opened for Frank Sinatra at Sanctuary Cove, Queensland. In America, he appeared at the 30th anniversary of Disneyland. He returned to recording on Arista with an album entitled Not the Boy Next Door (1983). In 1990, he recorded his final album on RCA Victor, Making Every Moment Count, which featured Melissa Manchester and Harry Connick Jr. The song "Making Every Moment Count", a duet with Manchester, was co-written by Seth Swirsky, who also produced a number of songs he co-wrote with Allen, including Allen's last-released single, "Tonight You Made My Day".

One of his songs, '"I Still Call Australia Home", became popular through its use in television commercials, initially for National Panasonic and, since 1987, for Qantas.{{cite web|url=http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/2006/qantas-i-still-call-australia-home|title=Qantas I Still Call Australia Home|work=The Inspiration Room Daily|access-date=2 July 2009|author=Duncan Macleod|date=12 June 2006|archive-date=27 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201127015117/https://theinspirationroom.com/daily/2006/qantas-i-still-call-australia-home/|url-status=dead}}McIntyre, Paul. [http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/07/21/1090089216353.html?from=storylhs It's all aboard for a Qantas jumbo] The Sydney Morning Herald 22 July 2004

Allen's most covered song is "I Honestly Love You". {{citation needed|date=August 2024}}

Allen made his Broadway debut on 12 January 1971, in Soon, a rock opera that opened at the Ritz Theatre and ran for three performances. He starred in his own one-man revue on Broadway at the Biltmore Theatre, Up in One: More Than a Concert (1979), which ran for 46 performances.[https://www.playbill.com/production/up-in-one-biltmore-theatre-vault-0000001540 Program] for Peter Allen: Up in One at the Biltmore Theatre, New York. Playbill, 1979, p. 36. Retrieved 9 March 2021.

Allen recorded a live album called Captured Live at Carnegie Hall, in which songs from his musical Legs Diamond, were previewed. Legs Diamond opened on Broadway at the Mark Hellinger Theatre on 26 December 1988, with a book co-written by Harvey Fierstein. The musical ran for 64 performances and 72 previews. After Legs Diamond closed he returned to concert work, touring with Bernadette Peters during the summer of 1989.Cudd, Bruce.[http://www.gmhc.org/calendar/allen.html "Remembering Peter Allen"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090207101815/http://www.gmhc.org/calendar/allen.html |date=7 February 2009 }}, gmhc.org, 2003 Allen and Bernadette also performed in the 1983 Academy Award broadcast in an extended musical tribute to Irving Berlin.

• Allen appeared in a cameo role in the film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978).
• Allen's live version of "Everything Old is New Again" can be heard on the soundtrack of the film All That Jazz (1979).
• Allen was the musical guest at Miss Universe 1981.
• Allen appeared in the 1982 television version of The Pirates of Penzance (as the Pirate King).
• Allen appeared as the "man in studio" in the TV series Miami Vice's second-season premiere episode "The Prodigal Son".
• Allen did a pilot for a new Name That Tune show in 1990, and the pilot for what became CBS's short-lived prime-time game show The Hollywood Game (both projects were produced by Marty Pasetta). He died the day of the series, which ended up being hosted by Bob Goen due to Allen's illness, debuted.{{sfn|MacLean|2015|p={{page needed|date=March 2021}}}}

Though flamboyant on stage, Allen was quite the opposite offstage. He once remarked, "I'm not the let's-tear-his-clothes-off type. I'm fairly quiet. The maniac only comes out when I hit the stage. I have to be a different person offstage. If I were to try to keep that up 24 hours a day, I would have a nervous breakdown."Cain, Scott. "The Maniac in Peter Allen Surfaces Only on the Stage." The Atlanta Constitution, 30 November 1980, p. 1E. Allen described his stage persona as "a much more interesting person than me. I think that's why I'm in show business, to get to be that other person.""Peter Allen; Obituary". The Times, 22 June 1992, p. 17. Allen further depicted his stage persona as "someone much taller, much handsomer, with a better hairline."Holden, Stephen. "Boy from Australia Up There with the Rockettes." The New York Times, 24 September 1982, p. c4. Although Allen described himself as "so boring" when not performing, he enjoyed swimming; wind surfing; skiing; water skiing; sailing; collecting Hawaiian shirts; reading; cooking; and growing flowers, herbs, and vegetables.{{sfn|MacLean|2015|loc=ch. 18, par. 39}}Cox, Jean P. "Peter Allen: A 30s-Model Camper." Los Angeles Times, 26 May 1978, p. 1. Allen spent so much time working in his yard that he imagined his neighbors thought he was a landscape gardener.

Allen owned a beach house in Leucadia, California (north of San Diego), a place he called a 'shack' in Oak Beach, Queensland, Australia, and a penthouse apartment in Manhattan.{{sfn|MacLean|2015|loc=ch. 16, par. 72; ch. 20, par. 49, 115}} While visiting Gregory Connell's parents in Leucadia in 1975, Allen learned there was a nearby house for sale and so purchased his first house with the earnings made from his 1974 song, "I Honestly Love You".{{sfn|MacLean|2015|loc=ch. 16, par. 72–73}} The area was quiet and far enough away from Los Angeles that he did not get people dropping in because they were in the neighborhood. He wrote the 1976 song "Puttin' Out Roots" about his move to Leucadia.{{sfn|MacLean|2015|loc=ch. 16, par. 72}} The living room of Allen's Leucadia beach house is featured on the cover of his 1979 album, I Could Have Been a Sailor.{{YouTube|1Wg2MmfD_og|Peter Allen interview with Bill Boggs, 2 May 2012}}

Allen met Liza Minnelli (born 1946) at London Airport on 28 October 1964, where she and her mother Judy Garland were rehearsing for their upcoming performance at the London Palladium in early November.Short, Don. "Judy: I'm So Happy." Daily Mirror, 29 October 1964, p. 5. Via Newspapers.com. Retrieved 30 March 2024. They were engaged a month later on 26 November 1964 at Trader Vic's, a restaurant at the London Hilton. They married in New York City on 3 March 1967, formally separated on 8 April 1970, and divorced on 24 July 1974.

Allen became more comfortable with his homosexuality in the early 1970s.{{cite encyclopedia

| last =Forde

| first =John

| editor-last=Gerstner

| editor-first=David A.

| title =Peter Allen

| encyclopedia = Routledge International Encyclopedia of Queer Culture

| edition= 1

| pages =36–37

| publisher =Routledge

| language =English

| date =2006

| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=XS_SnVPixE8C

| isbn = 9780415306515

| accessdate = 5 July 2022}} He explained, "I was afraid as a teen, that if I acknowledged that I preferred my own kind, my family would stop loving me. We do tend to underrate our families."Hadleigh, Boze. In or Out: Gay and Straight Celebrities Talk About Themselves and Each Other. New York: Barricade Books, 2020, p. 104. Allen and Gregory Connell (1949–1984) met when Greg and a mutual friend attended Peter's show at New York's Continental Baths in 1973.Barrand, Janine, et al. Peter Allen. Melbourne, Vic: Victorian Arts Centre Trust, 2008, p. 19. Greg thought Peter was working too hard for the money he was getting and so helped him get his first band together, while Peter found him "gorgeous", "sweet", and good-hearted.Sager, Carole Bayer. They're Playing Our Song: A Memoir. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2016, p. 59. According to Allen's biographer Stephen MacLean, Connell was "Peter's big love."{{sfn|MacLean|2015|loc=ch. 16, par. 30, 35}} Connell, a fashion and print model originally from Texas, attracted major clients, such as Coca-Cola and did lucrative print ads and commercials.{{sfn|MacLean|2015|loc=ch. 16, par. 32}} Moreover, he acted in community and dinner theatres and sang in a group called "Voice Six"."'Forty Carats' Opens Feb. 12." The Journal [Wood River, IL], 7 February 1974, p. 16. After they got together, Connell left his modeling career to support Allen's music career by becoming his lighting and staging director and tour manager. This arrangement enabled them to be together while Allen performed around the world. Connell also sang backup on Allen's 1976 song, "I Go to Rio".{{sfn|MacLean|2015|loc=ch. 16, par. 33, 35; ch. 18, par. 33; ch. 23, par. 23}}"Taught By Experts" LP back cover. He did so much work behind the scenes that Peter once remarked, "Gregory does everything but get up here and sing!"Smith, David and Neal Peters. Peter Allen: Between the Moon and New York City. Delilah, 1983, p. 124. After becoming ill in late 1982, Connell died from AIDS-related pneumonia on 11 September 1984, at their home in Leucadia.{{cite web|url=http://www.masterworksbroadway.com/artist/peter-allen|title=Peter Allen|author=Lucy E. Cross|publisher=Masterworks Broadway|access-date=20 October 2013}}{{sfn|MacLean|2015|loc=ch. 23, pars. 3-4}}

Although Allen wrote "Once Before I Go" in 1982 for good friend Ann-Margret to use as a closing song at her concerts, the song took on new meaning when he sang it. According to the song's co-writer Dean Pitchford, Allen asked him to personalize the last verse of "Once Before I Go" from "The air I breathe/My morning sun/You'll be with me in years to come" to "You are the light that shines on me/You always were and you'll always be" to reference Connell's role as Allen's lighting director.Barrand, Janine, et al. Peter Allen. Melbourne, Vic: Victorian Arts Centre Trust, 2008, p. 45. Allen told Pitchford that "it was the one song he related most to Greg; that he thought of Greg as he sang it, Greg behind the lights at all of his shows."{{sfn|MacLean|2015|loc=ch. 21, pars. 29-31; ch. 23, par. 28}}{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/05/theater/theater-the-boy-from-oz-you-won-t-meet-on-broadway.html|title=The Boy From Oz You Won't Meet on Broadway|author=Michael Joseph Gross|author-link=Michael Joseph Gross|work=The New York Times|date=5 October 2003|access-date=14 April 2021}} Allen further told Pitchford that "after Gregory died, he would always look into the spotlight and imagine that Gregory was behind the light."

Allen dedicated his 1985 album, Captured Live at Carnegie Hall, to Connell and sang songs in his memory at AIDS benefit concerts.Allen, Peter. Captured Live at Carnegie Hall. Arista Records, 1985.McCombs, Phil. "Of Love, Death and Hope; at the Human Rights Campaign Fund Dinner, Focusing on AIDS." The Washington Post, 9 October 1989, p. d01. DeVault, Russ. "Peter Allen's Giving a Hand in the Battle Against AIDS." The Atlanta Constitution, 9 August 1985, p. 1 I-P. After Connell's death, Allen poured himself even more into his work. Allen spent several years getting his musical Legs Diamond on Broadway (it premiered in 1988), recorded his final album Making Every Moment Count in 1990, and continued performing in concerts and doing various benefits until his death in 1992 at the age of 48.{{sfn|MacLean|2015|loc=ch. 23, par. 34}}

On 26 November 2005, an extension of the Tenterfield Library was opened and named the "George Woolnough Wing", named after Allen's paternal grandfather who was memorialized in his song, "Tenterfield Saddler".

Allen's last performance was on 26 January 1992, in Sydney, and he was diagnosed with an AIDS-related throat cancer shortly after. Allen spent his final days at his beach house in Leucadia.{{sfn|MacLean|2015|loc=ch. 27, par 97; ch. 28, par. 28, 53}} He died at Mercy Hospital, San Diego, on 18 June 1992.{{Cite news |last=Lambert |first=Bruce |title=Peter Allen, Concert Entertainer and Songwriter, Is Dead at 48 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=19 June 1992 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/19/arts/peter-allen-concert-entertainer-and-songwriter-is-dead-at-48.html}} A private memorial service was held on 21 June 1992, at his home in Leucadia, where his ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean within sight of his house."Obits." Update [San Diego, CA], no. 549, 1 July 1992, p. A-20. Via Gale. Retrieved 12 February 2022.

A documentary titled The Boy from Oz about Allen was produced after his death, featuring clips from his performances as well as interviews with performers who worked with him.[https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000CCD1SY The Boy From Oz listing] Amazon.com. Retrieved 2 December 2008

A stage musical based on his life, also titled The Boy from Oz, opened in Australia in 1998. Using his largely autobiographical songs, the production starred Todd McKenney as Allen and Christina Amphlett of the rock group Divinyls as Judy Garland. In 2003, the musical opened on Broadway, becoming the first Australian musical ever to be performed there. In this production Allen was played by Hugh Jackman, who won a Tony Award for his portrayal in 2004. Jackman performed this role again two years later when the show toured large arenas in Australia under the title The Boy from Oz: Arena Spectacular. A TV mini series, Peter Allen: Not the Boy Next Door, was broadcast in Australia in 2015 with Joel Jackson playing the adult Allen and Ky Baldwin playing him as a youth. Supporting roles were played by Rebecca Gibney as Marion Woolnough (Allen's mother), Sarah West as Liza Minnelli and Sigrid Thornton as Judy Garland.{{Cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4401126/|title=Peter Allen: Not the Boy Next Door|publisher=IMDb|access-date=9 April 2020}}

Allen was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 1993.{{cite web |url=http://www.ariaawards.com.au/history-by-award.php?awardID=36 |title=Winners by Award: Hall of Fame |publisher=Australian Recording Industry Association |access-date=23 October 2020 |archive-date=2 February 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090202052952/http://www.ariaawards.com.au/history-by-award.php?awardID=36 |url-status=dead }}

In the 1979 film All That Jazz, Allen's live rendition of "Everything Old Is New Again" is danced to by Ann Reinking and Erzebet Foldi for Roy Scheider's character Joe Gideon based on dancer Bob Fosse.

Hugh Jackman's performance of Allen's "Once Before I Go" (from The Boy from Oz) was featured in a montage dedicated to Alex Trebek in his final episode of Jeopardy! which aired on 8 January 2021, exactly two months after Trebek's death from stage IV pancreatic cancer on 8 November 2020, at the age of 80.{{Cite web|date=8 January 2021|title=Sentimental video tribute closes Trebek's final "Jeopardy!"|url=https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-alex-trebek-hugh-jackman-coronavirus-pandemic-3e04a7bf83991e15229d1ce3ef6ead1b|access-date=9 January 2021|work=Associated Press News|first=Andrew|last=Dalton}}{{cite web|url=https://cbc.ca/news/entertainment/trebek-tribute-final-episode-1.5867204|title=Alex Trebek's final Jeopardy! episode closes with heartfelt tribute|agency=Associated Press|date=8 January 2021|publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|access-date=21 April 2023}}

La Casa Azul's song Terry, Peter y yo makes reference to Allen, Judy Garland, and Liza Minnelli:

{{blockquote|

Peter Allen sang

As Judy came back to life at Christmas

Decadent and stellar

Peter Allen danced

As Liza flashed

At the Sunday Night

Peter Allen sang nonstop

No one listened to him

Peter Allen danced alone

And got all sentimental

But there was no one else...}}

{{notelist-ua}}

Peter Allen won an Academy Award (Oscar) for Best Original Song for "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" in 1981.{{cite web|url=https://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/search/results|title=Academy Awards Database|publisher=Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences|access-date=15 January 2023}}

{{awards table}} (wins only)

|-

| 54th Academy Awards

| Peter Allen, Burt Bacharach, Christopher Cross, & Carole Bayer Sager

| Best Original Song - Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)

| {{won}}

|-

{{end}}

On 29 September 1981, Peter Allen was commissioned as Canberra's first ambassador-at-large by the Minister of State for the Capital Territory, Michael Hodgman. At the ceremony, Peter was presented with the Keys of Canberra and a scroll setting out his commission.

{{cite web|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/126848989|title=Singer commissioned ambassador-at-large|website=Trove|access-date=26 February 2025}}{{cite web|url=https://www.archives.act.gov.au/find_of_the_month/2018/december/previous-find-of-the-month-122018|title=Peter Allen receives the 'Keys of Canberra'|website=ArchivesACT|access-date=26 February 2025}}

{{awards table}}

|-

| 1981

| Peter Allen

| Ambassador-at-Large for Canberra - in appreciation of work performed and personal effort expended in advancing the status of Canberra as Australia's National Capital.

| {{won}}

|-

{{end}}

The ASCAP Awards honors its top members in a series of annual awards shows in seven different music categories: pop, rhythm and soul, film and television, Latin, country, Christian, and concert music.

{{awards table}}

|-

| ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards 1991

| Peter Allen, Burt Bacharach, Christopher Cross, & Carole Bayer Sager

| Most Performed Feature Film Standards - Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)

| {{won}}

|-

{{end}}

The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. They commenced in 1987. Allen was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1993.{{cite web | url = http://www.ariahalloffame.com.au/inductees_listing.htm | title = ARIA Hall of Fame | publisher = Australian Recording Industry Association | access-date = 10 November 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080615011737/http://www.ariahalloffame.com.au/inductees_listing.htm | archive-date = 15 June 2008 | url-status = dead }}{{cite web|url=http://www.ariaawards.com.au/history-by-award.php?awardID=36 |title = Winners by Award: Hall of Fame | publisher = Australian Recording Industry Association | access-date = 10 November 2020 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090202052952/http://www.ariaawards.com.au/history-by-award.php?awardID=36 | archive-date = 2 February 2009 }} Note: shows inductees from 1999 to 2008, inclusive.

{{awards table}}

|-

| ARIA Music Awards of 1993

| Peter Allen

| ARIA Hall of Fame

| {{yes|Inductee}}

{{end}}

Peter Allen won a Golden Globe for Best Original Song for "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" in 1981.{{cite web|url=https://www.goldenglobes.com/awards-database|title=Golden Globes Awards Database|website=Golden Globes|access-date=15 January 2023}}

{{awards table}}

|-

| 39th Golden Globe Awards

| Peter Allen, Burt Bacharach, Christopher Cross, & Carole Bayer Sager

| Best Original Song - Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)

| {{won}}

|-

{{end}}

Peter Allen was nominated twice for a Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1974 for "I Honestly Love You" and in 1981 for "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)".{{cite web|url=https://www.grammy.com/artists/peter-allen/173|title=Grammy Awards|publisher=National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences|access-date=15 January 2023}}

{{awards table}}

|-

| 24th Annual Grammy Awards

| Peter Allen & Jeff Barry

| Song of the Year - I Honestly Love You (Single)

| {{nominated}}

|-

| 17th Annual Grammy Awards

| Peter Allen, Burt Bacharach, Christopher Cross, & Carole Bayer Sager

| Song of the Year - Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)

| {{nominated}}

|-

{{end}}

The Australian Entertainment Mo Awards (commonly known informally as the Mo Awards), were annual Australian entertainment industry awards. They recognise achievements in live entertainment in Australia from 1975 to 2016. Peter Allen won two awards in that time.{{cite web|url=https://www.moawards.com.au/awardwinners|title=MO Award Winners|website=Mo Awards|access-date=16 March 2022}}

{{awards table}}

|-

| 1983

| Peter Allen

| International Act of the Year

| {{won}}

|-

| 1984

| Peter Allen

| International Act of the Year

| {{won}}

|-

{{end}}

The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Government.{{cite web|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/240730394?searchTerm=%22peter%20richard%20woolnough%20allen%22|title=The Queen's Birthday 1990 Honours|website=Trove|access-date=15 January 2023}}

{{awards table}}

|-

| 1990

| Peter Allen

| Order of Australia, Member in the General Division (AM) - for service to the performing arts, particularly as a songwriter.

| {{won}}

|-

{{end}}

{{reflist|30em}}

Sources

• {{cite book|last=MacLean|first=Stephen|title=Peter Allen: The Boy from Oz|location=Sydney|publisher=Momentum|year=2015|type=EPUB|isbn=9781760301484}}

• David Smith and Neal Peters, Peter Allen: Between The Moon and New York City (Delilah Press, 1983; {{ISBN|0-933328-57-5}})
• Stephen Maclean, Peter Allen: The Boy From Oz (Random House Australia, 1995; {{ISBN|0-09-183052-4}})
• Frank Van Straten, [https://liveperformance.com.au/hof-profile/peter-allen-am-1944-1992/ "Peter Allen AM 1944–1992"] (Live Performance Australia – Hall of Fame, 2007)
• Lawrence Schulman, "Somebody's Angel: Peter Allen, The Boy from Oz in the Key of Camp – A 21st-Century Reevaluation of His Music," ARSC Journal, Vol. 54:2 (Fall 2023), pp. 252–297. Winner of the 2024 ARSC Journal Article of the Year Award
• Lawrence Schulman, FREE: Words on Music by an Hi-Def Critic in an MP3 World, Chapter 35: Somebody's Angel: Peter Allen, revised and expanded, BearManor Media, 2024; {{ISBN|979-8887714660}}
• Lawrence Schulman, "Peter Allen: Somebody's Angel - The Boy from Oz in the Key of Camp," revised and expanded, BearManor Media, 2025; {{ISBN|979-8887716527}}}

• {{IMDb name|id=0020899|name=Peter Allen}}
• {{IBDB name|8107}}
• [http://www.bluedesert.dk/peterallen.html Peter Allen bio and recordings]
• [http://www.artscentremelbourne.com.au/peter-allen.aspx Peter Allen Exhibition Website]
• [https://collections.artscentremelbourne.com.au/#browse=enarratives.2163 Peter Allen Collection], including his personal archive and costumes, at the Performing Arts Collection, Arts Centre Melbourne

{{Peter Allen}}

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