Rock opera star back
in Hawaii after career
as a disco queen

Answer: The Roosevelt High School alumna returned to Hawaii in 2001 and has resumed her singing career. Most of her public appearances have been reprisals of her late-1970s disco hits, but she said the concerts have helped her get over the stage fright she had throughout her career.

Last year, Elliman recorded a new extended-play CD of original music that takes her back to her roots in folk and rock 'n' roll.

"It's all me, speaking my mind about things," Elliman said.

The CD, "Simple Needs," hit local music stores earlier this month.

Elliman was just 18, singing at a folk club in London, when songwriters Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber offered her the role of Magdalene. The initial production of "Superstar" was a 1971 record album in which she sang "I Don't Know How to Love Him." She included the hit single in her debut album the following year.

Elliman continued as Magdalene in the "Superstar" movie and Broadway production. She later sang backup vocals on Eric Clapton's recording of the reggae crossover hit "I Shot the Sheriff" and toured with his band for five years.

Her career took another turn after she signed with RSO Records and quickly became one of the stars of disco with her "Love Me" album.

"I became a disco queen and I didn't even like disco," Elliman said.

Her recording of "If I Can't Have You" from the "Saturday Night Fever" movie soundtrack topped Billboard Magazine's Hot 100 in 1978.

But when disco dropped off the charts, so did Elliman. She said she became a stay-at-home mom, raising a daughter and son in California.

Now that her children are grown, she is writing and singing songs shaped by her life experiences.

"I still sing the same way, just lower. I just gotta drop the key," she said.