Who sang the original song "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" in 1976?

Julie Covington (born 11 September 1946) is an English singer and actress, best known for recording the original version of "Don't Cry for Me Argentina", which she sang on the 1976 concept album "Evita", later included in the 1978 musical of the same name.

The song was written and composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice while they were researching the life of Argentine leader Eva Perón. It appears at the opening of the first and second acts, as well as near the end of the show, initially as the spirit of the dead Eva exhorting the people of Argentina not to mourn her, during Eva's speech from the balcony of the Casa Rosada, and during her final broadcast.

Julie Covington was born in London. Her parents were Ernest Gladden and Elsie Gladden (née Moody). Her parents divorced and her mother married Leslie Covington in 1957. She attended the girls' grammar school Brondesbury and Kilburn High School in Kilburn, northwest London. She started acting at school, and performed both acting and singing at two Edinburgh festivals. She won the first Edinburgh Festival Fringe Best Actress Award.