Yvonne Elliman was a singer, songwriter, and actress who became famous in the 1970s.
She is known for her songs “If I Can’t Have You” and “Love Me.” The actress also performed for four years in the musical “Jesus Christ Superstar.” Recently Yvonne has disappeared from the public domain, which begs the question, what happened to Yvonne Elliman?
Many people are asking this question, but no one knows for sure. There are rumors that she may have died from an overdose of drugs, committed suicide because she had become addicted to cocaine, or contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion during surgery.
The truth is that nobody knows what happened to Yvonne Elliman after 1978, when she retired from performing publicly.
Read on to find out what her story was.
Elliman is an American singer who became famous in the 1970s. She is known for her songs “If I Can’t . Have You” and “Love Me.” Elliman’s story is shrouded in mystery because she retired from public performance.
Early life
Yvonne Marianne Elliman was born on December 29, 1951, in Honolulu, Hawaii. Her mother was of Japanese descent, while her father was Japanese. The singer attended President Theodore Rosevelt High School, where she played bass and violin in the school band.
Yvonne then formed a group called We Folk with her schoolmates, where she performed as a singer and guitarist. After graduating from high school, she moved to London to pursue her music career.
RECOMMENDED: Is Gotye still making music?
Elliman’s Career
Yvonne’s career began in 1969 in London, where she used to perform in bars. She did not like what she was doing then and even claimed she was doing it just to earn a living. She was doing a lot of drugs at that time. Tim Ryce and Andrew Webber discovered the singer and asked her to sing Mary Magdalene’s part in “Jesus Christ Superstar.” The album for “Jesus Christ Superstar” was released in 1970, and Yvonne was asked to join the traveling cast, which she did for four years.
The then superstar moved to New York in 1971 for the Broadway production of “Jesus Christ Superstar.” During this time, she was signed to Purple records, where she produced her second solo album, “Food of Love,” in 1973. In 1974 the singer was asked to sing as a backup vocalist for Eric Clapton in his version of Bob Marley’s “I Shot the Sheriff.” This made her go on tours with Eric and also performed on his albums from 1974 to 1977.
Yvonne then signed with RSO Records, where she produced two albums; “Rising Sun” and “Love Me.”
As an actress, she featured in two episodes of the hit show “Hawaii Five-O” in 1978. In the film, she performed the song “I Can’t Get You Outa My Mind.” She later went on a break from show business to dedicate time to her two children.
Yvonne returned to the music scene in 2004 after taking a big break. Her album “Simple Needs” was released in 2004 and later re-released globally in 2007. Ted Neeley and Barry Dennen reunited with Elliman in 2014 for a special “Jesus Christ Superstar” event. In 2018 she joined the 45th-anniversary Superstar film screening events in Los Angeles.
Personal Life
Between 1972 to 1980” Elliman was married to Bill Oakes, her first husband and president of RSO Records. In 1981 she got married to Wade Hyman, a songwriter with whom they had two children, Sage and Ben. The two later separated and divorced. In January 2016” Elliman married Allan Alexander.
On August 16, 2017, Elliman and Allan were arrested for possession of marijuana and methamphetamine. They spent a night in jail and pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance. The couple was put on probation until March 2018, when they were sentenced to do community service.
Whatever Happened to Yvonne Elliman?
Much of Yvonne Elliman’s known is up to her drug possession case, which was closed after she and her husband Allan Alexander were given a fourteen-day sentence. Currently, she keeps a low profile, and there is not much information about her from web sources and the news in general.
Drug and substance possession and abuse can literally and adversely affect your health and life. From the article above, it is clear that somehow drugs have impacted Yvonne’s dwindling career.
