Andrew Lloyd Webber Will Resign from House of Lords

According to the Mirror, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, currently represented on Broadway with School of Rock, The Phantom of the Opera and Cats, will resign from the House of Lords today.

He writes in a letter to the chief whip: "I have been privileged to be a member of the House for 20 years and resign with a heavy heart, but in the knowledge that what is expected from a member today is very different from what it was when I joined the House in 1997."

Lloyd Webber who spends much of his time in the US, has voted 42 times throughout his twenty years in the Parliament. "I have enjoyed my time in the House of Lords immensely and hope that my place can be taken by someone who can meet the demands and circumstances that the changing character of the House of Lords increasingly requires," explained Lloyd Webber.

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Lloyd Webber is the composer of some of the world's best-known musicals, including CATS, Evita, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Phantom of the Opera and Sunset Boulevard. His latest musical, the hit stage version of the movie School of Rock, is now playing at the Winter Garden Theatre.

His awards, both as composer and producer, include seven Tonys, seven Oliviers, a Golden Globe, an Oscar, the Praemium Imperiale, the Richard Rodgers Award for Excellence in Musical Theatre, a BASCA Fellowship, the Kennedy Center Honor and a Grammy for Best Contemporary Classical Composition for Requiem, his setting of the Latin Requiem mass which contains one of his best known compositions, Pie Jesu.

He owns seven London theatres including the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and the London Palladium. He was knighted by Her Majesty the Queen in 1992 and created an honorary member of the House of Lords in 1997. He is passionate about the importance of music in education, and the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation is one of Britain's leading charities supporting the arts and music. This year the Foundation announced a $1.3 million arts education initiative with the American Theatre Wing.