Elaine Paige Profile
Elaine's first professional appearance was in the Anthony Newley/Leslie Bricusse musical ,The Roar of The Greasepaint, the Smell of The Crowd,. Many stage performances followed, including ,Roar Like a Dove, ,Rock Carmen, ,Maybe That's Your Problem, ,Hair, ,Jesus Christ Superstar, Sandy in ,Grease, and Rita in ,Billy,. In 1978 Elaine was chosen by Hal Prince to create the part of Eva Peron in ,Evita,.
Elaine subsequently swept the boards with her award-winning performance in ,Evita, and collected the Society of West End Theatre Award for Best Actress in a Musical, and the Variety Club Award for Showbusiness Personality of the Year.
In 1981 she starred in the original London production of the equally renowned ,Cats,. She played Grizabella and thereby became the first actress to perform the now classic song ,Memory, - one of her many hit records.
In 1983 Elaine starred as Carrabosse in the London production of ,Abbacadabra, written by Abba's Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson. In 1986, she sang their work on stage for a second time in ,Chess, when they collaborated with Tim Rice, for which she was nominated for the Olivier Award for Outstanding Performance of the Year by an Actress in a Musical. Her single from the show's ,I Know Him So Well, a duet with Barbara Dickson, held the number one position in the British charts for four weeks. It still remains the biggest selling record by a female duo in the Guiness Book of Records.
In the same year she was awarded the Variety Club Award for Recording Artiste of the Year. Her phonomenal success was particularly evident in 1985 when ,Stages, and ,Cinema, rejoined ,Chess, in the top 40, giving her three simultaneous hit albums to complement her number one single. In the same year, she went on to record her very successful ,Love Hurts, album.
The ,Queen, album of 1988 brought Elaine a further challenge and more praise, most notable from Freddie Mercury and the other members of Queen.
Her subsequent solo albums are the contemporary ,Love Can Do That, produced by Dennis Lambert, and the contrasting ,Romance and the Stage, a collection of classic songs drawn from the theatre.
In 1989, Elaine accomplished the dual role of starring in and co-producing the smash hit Lincoln Centre New York production of ,Anything Goes, in London's West End. Directed by Jerry Zaks, she was nominated for an Olivier Award for Outstanding Performance of the Year by an Actress in a Musical.
One of her most recent theatrical achievements was as Edith Piaf in the musical play by Pam Gems entitled ,Piaf,. Her critically acclaimed performance at London's Piccadilly Theatre led to a nomination for an Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical and she has recently released an album of Piaf songs.
At the personal request of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, Elaine stepped into the role of Norma Desmond in ,Sunset Boulevard, at extremely short notice and received rave reviews during her six weeks in the show at Christmas.
Elaine has performed all over the world and toured Australia, New Zealand, Europe, the Middle and Far East, in addition to the UK. She has gathered eight consecutive gold albums, four of them multi-platinum. In 1994 the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors awarded her with the Gold Badge of Merit.
