Elaine Paige (b. Bickerstaff, 5 March 1948)

   Although she stands at only 5ft, Elaine Paige has proven herself as one of the greatest stage actresses of all time, richly deserving the title "The First Lady of British Musical Theatre". As an actress and producer she has received great critical acclaim for creating some of the most memorable roles in many of the most successful West End musicals of the last three decades.

   She was born in Barnet, Hertfordshire, England. Elaine first discovered she had a good singing voice while still at school and was encouraged by her teachers. She was trained for three years at the Aida Foster Stage School in Golders Green, North London.

   During the 1960's and early 1970's Elaine appeared in several stage musicals such as The Roar of the Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd, Roar Like a Dove, Rock Carmen and Maybe That's Your Problem before she made her West End debut in 1969 as a member of the cast of Hair. Following this she appeared in Jesus Christ Superstar and Nuts in London's West End before winning her first major role as Sandy in Grease at the New London Theatre.

   In 1978 came the turning point in Elaine's career when she was chosen by Hal Prince to portray the leading role of Eva Peron in Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd-Webber's musical hit Evita. Despite the fact that Julie Covington had already had a UK smash hit with the show's principle song "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" Elaine went on to stun the critics and make the role her own.

   Her performance gained her a Society of West End Theatres Award for Best Actress in a Musical and also the Variety Club Award for Showbusiness Personality of the Year. Unfortunately, due to American union rules, Elaine didn't get to play the part of Evita on Broadway.

   In 1981 she stepped in at short notice to create the role of Grizabella in the renowned musical hit Cats replacing Judy Dench, who had injured her ankle in rehearsals. She stole the show with her rendition of the song "Memory". This not only made her the first actress to perform the classic song but also gave Elaine her first UK chart hit.

   In 1983 Elaine appeared as Carabosse in Abbacadabra a show written by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus and of course sang their work again in Chess in 1986.

   During the late 1980's she concentrated more on straight acting starring in several BBC films, notably A View of Harry Clark in which she played opposite Griff Rhys Jones and Unexplained Laughter, a black comedy with Diana Rigg. Elaine also hosted her own BBC TV special and "Elaine Paige in Concert" has been televised.

   In 1989 she accomplished the dual role of starring in and co-producing the musical Anything Goes in London and for her efforts she was nominated for a Oliver Award for Outstanding Performance of the Year by an Actress in a Musical.

   In 1990 her eleven-year relationship with Tim Rice finally ended and Elaine threw herself into her work embarking on many concert tours of Europe, the Middle East and Scandinavia.

   Piaf, written by Pam Gems, was her next accomplishment. Elaine played the role of the tragic chanteuse Edith Piaf (for the second time playing someone with the initials E.P). For this role she was once again nominated for an Oliver Award for Best Actress in a Musical.

   In May 1995, she took over from Betty Buckley in role of Norma Desmond in the West End hit Sunset Boulevard. Later that year Elaine received an OBE from the Queen for service to the British Musical Theatre.

   Finally in 1996 Elaine's dream of acting on Broadway came true as she was asked by Andrew Llyod Webber to take over the role of Norma Desmond in the New York production of Sunset Boulevard, once again replacing Betty Buckley.

   Two years later she returned to London's West End to star as Celimene, the duplicitous widow, in Moliere's scathing comedy The Misanthrope.

   For the video version of the musical Cats, released in 1998, she revisited the role of Grizabella singing the song which people will forever associate with Elaine Paige, "Memory"

   Elaine is currently playing Anna in the revival of the Rogers and Hammerstein musical The King and I.

   As a recording artist Elaine Paige has had many hit singles and albums in the charts all over the world.

   In 1985 she had three simultaneous hit singles in the British charts, "Stages", "Cinema" and "Chess". Her album "Love Hurts" was enormously successful also. Elaine's most unusual album was released in 1988 and it consisted of cover versions of Queen hits. It received great praise from the public and members of the band Queen, most notably Freddie Mercury who was extremely pleased with Elaine's version of Bohemian Rhapsody.

Albums

1978 - Barrier (with Peter Oliver)

1982 - Elaine Paige

1983 - Stages

1984 - Cinema

1985 - Sitting Pretty

1986 - Christmas

1987 - Memories - The Best of Elaine Paige

1988 - The Queen Album

1990 - The Collection

1991 - Love Can Do That

1992 - Together (with Barbara Dickson)

1993 - Romance and the Stage

1995 - Piaf

1995 - Encore

1996 - Performance

1998 - On Reflection - The Best of Elaine Paige