Biography
Born on 24 June 1952 in Birmingham, West Midlands, England, the singer and actor earned early recognition for possessing one of the best singing voices in town. He rose abruptly during the 1980s to claim principal parts in a pair of major West End musical successes despite never having taken lessons in singing, dancing or acting and having attended the theatre only rarely before turning twenty. While employed by day as a quality control supervisor at a Midlands engineering company, he joined a local amateur dramatic group. His nuanced portrayal of Charlie in the Charles Strouse musical Flowers For Algernon attracted the attention of Bob Hamlyn, artistic director of the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, who offered him his first professional role as the third flunky from the left in another Strouse production, Annie. Already in his thirties, Willetts began an unusually rapid ascent. Trevor Nunn placed him in the chorus of Les Misérables at London’s Palace Theatre; within twelve months he had become understudy to Jean Valjean and assumed the role in 1986 once Colm Wilkinson departed for the Broadway company. The following year, after Michael Crawford left for the American premiere of The Phantom Of The Opera, Willetts replaced him at Her Majesty’s Theatre in the West End’s most sought-after attraction. He later performed the Phantom in Manchester and received the Evening News Theatre Award. Apart from his appearance as Major Lee in Petula Clark’s unsuccessful American Civil War musical Someone Like You in 1990, his career continued to flourish. Notable engagements included a 1991 residency at London’s Pizza On The Park, a 1992 return to the London Les Misérables, and the title role in a concert presentation of Jesus Christ Superstar at the Barbican Centre followed by its 1993 European tour. In 1995 he shared the stage with Lorna Luft on the touring concert production The Magical World Of The Musicals, and in 1996 he took the lead in a well-received Leicester Haymarket staging of Sweeney Todd. That same year he originated the title character in the new musical Jekyll by Tony Rees and Gary Young at the Churchill Theatre, Bromley. He had previously created leading roles in the UK premieres of Tycoon and Lonely Hearts and had presented his own concerts and one-man shows throughout Britain and abroad. In 1997 Willetts and Bonnie Langford led a small ensemble at the Jermyn Theatre in A Lot Of Living!, a chamber revue drawn from the songs of Charles Strouse. He again assumed the part of Jean Valjean for the tenth-anniversary production of Les Misérables mounted in Sydney, Australia, and early in 1999 co-starred with Marti Webb on a British tour of The Magic Of The Musicals In Concert.
Albums
