Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice wrote this for the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar. The song is performed by Mary Magdalene in Act I of the play, as she realizes that Jesus is unlike any man she has ever encountered.
Rice and Webber discovered Yvonne Elliman, originally from Hawaii, at the Pheasantry folk club on Kings Road in Chelsea in 1969. They offered her the role of Mary Magdalene in the rock opera.
The music for Jesus Christ Superstar appeared long before the play. When Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice pitched the project, MCA Records had them first write one song to test the waters. That was "Superstar." Released as a single in 1969 with Murray Head on vocals, it did just well enough to warrant an album, which was issued the following year. In 1971, prior to the Broadway production, "I Don't Know How To Love Him" was released as a single, building interest in the play. In a Songfacts interview with Tim Rice, he said: "Ironically, the whole thing was not what we'd aimed for, because we were still really trying to write for the theatre, and this album was a kind of demonstration record."
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