Elaine Paige

Elaine Paige, born Elaine Jill Bickerstaff on 5 March 1948 in Barnet, Hertfordshire, is an English singer and actress whose career in musical theatre spans more than five decades. Her father Eric worked as an estate agent and her mother Irene was a milliner, though both parents had musical inclinations — her mother had sung in her youth and her father played drums as an amateur. Paige attended Southaw Girls' School in Oakleigh Park before enrolling at the Aida Foster Theatre School at her father's suggestion. It was at age 14, upon hearing the film soundtrack of West Side Story, that she decided to pursue a career in musical theatre. Her first stage role was playing Susanna in a school production of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, followed by parts in The Boy Mozart and solo performances in Handel's Messiah.

After graduating from drama school, Paige's first professional stage appearance came in 1964 at the age of 16, during the UK tour of The Roar of the Greasepaint — The Smell of the Crowd, the Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse musical, in which she played a Chinese urchin. Her stage name came about after an initial audition rejection: encouraged by her drama school teacher to audition again under a different name, she browsed a phone book for inspiration and settled on the word "page," adding an "i" to arrive at Elaine Paige. Her West End debut followed in 1968, when she joined the cast of Hair on 27 September of that year, remaining with the production until March 1970. Over the following years she took on roles in Jesus Christ Superstar, Grease — playing Sandy from 1973 to 1974 — Billy, in which she played Rita from 1974 to 1975, and The Boyfriend as Maisie from 1975 to 1976.

The defining breakthrough of Paige's early career came in 1978, when director Hal Prince cast her as Eva Perón in the first stage production of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita, a role she held for twenty months. Julie Covington, who had recorded the role on the original concept album, had declined to appear on stage, prompting an extensive search that ultimately led to Paige competing against American actress Bonnie Schoen for the part. Her performance brought her into wide public prominence at the age of 30 and earned her the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Musical — then known as the Society of West End Theatre Award — as well as the Variety Club Award for Showbusiness Personality of the Year. She also released her first studio album, Sitting Pretty, that same year.

In 1981, Paige originated the role of Grizabella in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats, joining the production after Judi Dench withdrew due to a torn Achilles tendon. Her recording of "Memory" from the show became a Top 10 hit. She went on to appear in the original stage production of Chess and co-produced and starred in Anything Goes. In 1985, she recorded "I Know Him So Well" with Barbara Dickson, a duet from Chess that became the biggest-selling single by a female duo. Paige has been nominated for five Laurence Olivier Awards across her career.

Paige made her Broadway debut in 1996, playing the lead role of Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard. Her Broadway work continued with an appearance in The King and I from 2000 to 2001. She starred in Follies on Broadway as well, a credit that earned her a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical in 2012, while her earlier Broadway work brought a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Musical in 2004. Her Broadway appearances span the years 1994 to 2011. In 2007, she returned to the West End in The Drowsy Chaperone.

Beyond the stage, Paige has released 22 solo albums, eight of which were consecutively certified gold and four of which achieved multi-platinum certification. She appears on seven cast recordings and has performed in concerts internationally. Since 2004, she has hosted Elaine Paige on Sunday on BBC Radio 2. In 2014, she marked fifty years in show business with a farewell concert tour and a career-spanning album titled The Ultimate Collection. Outside of performance, she serves as a vice-president of The Children's Trust, a UK charity supporting children with brain injury.