#1: The More I See You by Peter Allen

City: Sault Ste. Marie, ON
Radio Station: CJIC
Peak Month: September 1976
Peak Position in Sault Set. Marie ~ #1
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #108
YouTube: “The More I See You”
Lyrics: “The More I See You”

Peter Allen was born Peter Richard Woolnough in 1944, in Tenterfield, New South Wales, Australia. His father was a soldier in WWII and became a violent alcoholic on return from the war. Peter Allen’s performing career began when he was 11, playing the piano in the ladies’ lounge of the New England Hotel in Armidale. At the age of fourteen, Peter’s father committed suicide, which devastated the family. In 1959, he met Chris Bell and they formed a duo called The Allen Brothers. At this time Peter Woolnough took the surname ‘Allen’ as his stage name: Peter Allen. 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. In 1964 he met Liza Minelli, and with Judy Garland’s encouragement, the couple married in 1967. But they got a divorce in 1970.

The Allen Brothers (with Peter Allen front right) – 1967

Meanwhile, in 1965 Neil Sedaka recorded the first of two minor hits written by Allen. While in 1971, Bobby Sherman had a Top Ten Adult Contemporary single with Peter Allen’s composition titled “Jennifer”.

In 1974, Olivia Newton-John recorded a song co-written by Peter Allen (with Jeff Barry) titled “I Honestly Love You”. The song reached number-one in Australia, Canada, Sweden, and the USA, and #5 in South Africa. “I Honestly Love You” was nominated for Song of the Year at the Grammy Awards, but lost out to “The Way We Were”. However, it picked up two Grammy Awards: Record of the Year and also Best Pop Vocal Performance – Female.

In 1976, Peter Allen released “The More I See You”.

“The More I See You” is a song about an ever-growing attraction and love for a partner in life. “The more I see you, the more I want you” sings Peter Allen.

“The More I See You” reached #1 in Sault Ste. Marie (ON), #14 in Massillon (OH), and #15 in Dallas. Internationally, “The More I See You” reached #10 in Australia. In 1976, Allen had a number-one hit in Australia with “I Go to Rio”, which also reached #8 in South Africa. The song was later a minor hit for Pablo Cruise. In 1978, Melissa Manchester recorded Peter Allen’s song “Don’t Cry Out Loud”, which reached #10 on the Billboard Hot 100. That year he had a cameo appearance in the movie Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. 

Allen’s live version of “Everything Old is New Again” can be heard on the soundtrack of the film All that Jazz.  In 1981, Peter Allen was the musical guest for the Miss Universe pageant.

Peter Allen won an Oscar for Best Original Song for “Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do)” at the Academy Awards (and also the Golden Globe Awards) in 1981. The song was a number-one hit for Christopher Cross in Norway and the USA. It also reached the Top Ten in Canada, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Switzerland, and the UK. Other songs Peter Allen wrote have been recorded by Rita Coolidge, Frank Sinatra, Patti Labelle, Barry Manilow, and others.

Allen had a long-term partner, model Gregory Connell. They met in 1973 and were together until Connell’s death in 1984. Allen and Connell died from AIDS-related cancer eight years apart, with Allen becoming one of the first well-known Australians to die from AIDS in 1992 at the age of 48. In 1998 a jukebox musical, The Boy from Oz, premiered in Sydney, Australia. A 2003 Broadway production starred Hugh Jackman in the title role.

Posthumously, Coldplay had a hit with Peter Allen’s song “Every Teardrop is a Waterfall” in 2011. It reached #6 in the UK and #14 on the Hot 100 in the USA. In 1993, Peter Allen was posthumously inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame.

August 5, 2026
Ray McGinnis

References:
Bruce Lambert, “Peter Allen: Concert Entertainer and Songwriter is Dead at 48,”  New York Times, June 19, 1992.
Loretta Barnard, “Peter Allen – the Boy from Oz,” Australia Explained, August 21, 2019.

CJIC 1050-AM Sault Ste. Marie (ON) Top Ten | September 12, 1976