History Creator / AnthonyNewley

!!Anthony Newley's music provides examples of:

* AwardBaitSong: Many, ''many'' of the songs he and Bricusse wrote for their musicals, in a surprisingly similar to many BreakawayPopHit versions of the more familiar variant of this trope in Creator/{{Disney}} and Creator/DonBluth films, as Newley himself recorded many of them as pop rock and soft rock songs on his studio albums. And yes, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbfoLB9b4V8 that includes]] "[[Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory Pure Imagination]]".

* FreudianExcuse: The narrator of "There's No Such Thing As Love" is implied to be [[TheCasanova a careless ladykiller]] because his own lover left him.

* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: Many of his songs' themes are made obvious by their title, such as "[[AntiLoveSong There's No Such Thing as Love]]", "[[TorchSong Me Without You]]", "[[FollowYourHeart The Fool Who Dared to Dream]]", "[[BreakUpSong It's All Over]]", and many, ''many'' more.

* ''Mister Quilp'' (A musical film adaptation of ''Literature/TheOldCuriosityShop'', also starring Newley himself as the [[AdaptationNameChange titular]] BigBad.)

Despite his long acting and musical career, Newley didn't have much success in the United States. While the songs he ''wrote'' remain pop standards, only five of his own recordings even remotely became hits: his four Billboard 100 songs never reached above #67, and his one Top 40 hit, "Teach The Children" from his 1977 album, ''The Singer & His Songs'', only became a hit on the Adult Contemporary chart. In addition, even his more well-known acting career took hits--much like Creator/TommyWiseau of ''Film/TheRoom'' infamy, Newley had his own [[CopiouslyCreditedCreator directing and starring]] VanityProject, ''Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?'' a rather controversial X-Rated film that cost Creator/{{Universal}} millions, lead to Creator/JoanCollins divorcing him, and years after his death, lead to one of his children with Collins, Alexander Newley, to ''accuse him of [[PedoHunt pedophilia]]'', although his sister, Tara Newley, and Joan Collins herself both denied the allegations. In addition, he also starred as Captain Manzini in ''Film/TheGarbagePailKidsMovie'', listed on This Very Wiki's [[Horrible/{{Film}} So Bad, It's Horrible film page]] and near-universally regarded to be one of the worst films ever made, to the point where ''everbody'' else involved with the film regards it as an OldShame. The result was the CreatorKiller of both its distributor, Creator/AtlanticReleasingCorporation, and Newley's own film acting career. He spent the rest of his life only in television roles.

* BritishRockStar: Well, for a given definition of "rockstar", but along with Music/CliffRichard, he was one of the {{Ur Example}}s of British rock musicians. Some of his later songs fall into soft rock.

* FakeIrish: His portrayal of Matthew Mugg in ''Film/DoctorDolittle''. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa7Jq6H8NaU&list=WL&index=6&t=388s This YouTube documentary]] about Newley describes him as "the least Irish person I've ever met in my life" around the 26:10 mark.

* GenreRoulette: BaroquePop and easy-listening-type jazz and soft rock are the main genres in his output, but he's also experimented with CountryMusic ("Ain't It Funny") and even Michael [=McDonald=]-era-[[Music/TheDoobieBrothers Doobie Brothers-style]] yacht rock (A few of the songs on ''The Singer & His Songs'', such as "Lunch With a Friend" and "Teach the Children").
** Overlaps with GenreShift: Newley's own musical style did change with the times, although this is most apparent on his 1977 album ''The Singer & His Songs'', which includes elements of funk, disco, and yacht rock.

Despite his long acting and musical career, Newley didn't have much success in the United States. While the songs he ''wrote'' remain pop standards, only five of his own recordings even remotely became hits: his four Billboard 100 songs never reached above #67, and his one Top 40 hit, "Teach The Children" from his 1977 album, ''The Singer & His Songs'', only became a hit on the Adult Contemporary chart. In addition, even his more well-known acting career took hits--much like Creator/TommyWiseau of ''Film/TheRoom'' infamy, Newley had his own [[CopiouslyCreditedCreator directing and starring]] VanityProject, ''[[OverlyLongTitle Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?]]'' a rather controversial X-Rated film that cost Creator/{{Universal}} millions, lead to Creator/JoanCollins divorcing him, and years after his death, lead to one of his children with Collins, Alexander Newley, to ''accuse him of [[PedoHunt pedophilia]]'', although his sister, Tara Newley, and Joan Collins herself both denied the allegations. In addition, he also starred as Captain Manzini in ''Film/TheGarbagePailKidsMovie'', listed on This Very Wiki's [[Horrible/{{Film}} So Bad, It's Horrible film page]] and near-universally regarded to be one of the worst films ever made, to the point where ''everbody'' else involved with the film regards it as an OldShame. The result was the CreatorKiller of both its distributor, Creator/AtlanticReleasingCorporation, and Newley's own film acting career. He spent the rest of his life only in television roles.

In addition to his songwriting and acting career in film and theater, Newley also had a successful—albeit, in the UK moreso than the US—career as a rock and pop musician. In fact, he actually recorded a few of his songs from the aforementioned musicals as pop songs, although they were largely more successful when covered by other artists—notably Music/SammyDavisJr, with “What Kind Of Fool Am I” and “[[Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory The Candy Man]]”. Much like Music/PaulAnka and Music/BobbyDarin, Newley started his music career as a jazz-influenced RockAndRoll singer in the late '50s, but started to record more orchestral pop music in the early '60s, although several of his other later songs still have {{Rock}} elements, usually still easy listening and jazz-influenced soft rock in the vein of the aforementioned Paul Anka and Music/BarryManilow. Some examples of his early notable songs include “I've Waited So Long”, “Idle on Parade”[[note]]Both of which originated from the film, ''Idol On Parade'', in which Newley starred[[/note]], “Why”, “What Kind of Fool Am I?”,[[note]] Originally from his musical ''Stop The World, I Want To Get Off''[[/note]] “The Joker”,[[note]] Originally from his musical, ''The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd''[[/note]] and “Feeling Good”.[[note]] Also from the same musical[[/note]] Some of his later songs include “Bye Bye Brown Eyes”, “Ain't It Funny”, and “Lunch with a Friend”. Newley also created ''The Strange World of Gurney Slade'' and starred as the title character.

* ''Mr. Quilp'' (A musical film adaptation of ''Literature/TheOldCuriosityShop'', also starring Newley himself as the [[AdaptationNameChange titular]] BigBad.)

* ''The Good Old Bad Old Days''

* ''[[Literature/TheOldCuriosityShop Mister Quilp]]'' - Mr. Quilp

* WereStillRelevantDammit:
** {{Invoked|Trope}} in "Overchewer":
--->''Will I have to do the boogaloo''
--->''And with each step, say "Man, I'm hip"?''
--->''Will I ever learn to eat organic food?''
--->''Listening to Music/RaviShankar in the nude?''
** Newley's own musical style did change with the times, although this is most apparent on his 1977 album ''The Singer & His Songs'', which includes elements of funk, disco, and yacht rock.
** One of his rerecordings of "Why" (itself originally recorded by Frankie Avalon, Newley's version was a No. 1 hit in the UK) is a very 1980s synth-driven version. It can be found on ''The Magic of Anthony Newley'' (which itself is a compilation of rerecordings, but that song sticks out, especially when juxtaposed against ''another'' rerecording ''of the same song'' he did on that album that was more similar to his hit version).

-->''Will I have to do the boogaloo''
-->''And with each step, say "Man, I'm hip"?''
-->''Will I ever learn to eat organic food?''
-->''Listening to Music/RaviShankar in the nude?''