ഉ ELAINE PAIGE, Don't Cry For Me Argentina|I Know Him So Well|Memory|Nobody's Side|Secrets|

Elaine Paige OBE (Elaine Mary Bickerstaff, born 5 March 1948) is an English singer and actress best known for her work in musical theatre. Paige was raised in Barnet, North London, where her father worked as an estate agent and her mother was a milliner. Her mother had been a singer in her youth, and her father was an amateur drummer. She stands at just under 5 feet (1.5 m) tall, which she says has caused her to lose out on leading roles. Her original ambition was to become a professional tennis player, at which point her headmistress pointed out to her "they'd never see you over the net", but Paige continued to play tennis and has referred to the sport as one of her passions.

Thanks to Susan Boyle who said she wants to be as successful as Elaine Paige before her stunning performance at Britain's Got Talent on April 11, 2009 which indirectly mentioned Elaine's name over 36 million times as that was the recorded views in one particular video by BritainsSoTalented in YouTube as at 12:32am April 22, 2009 a whopping record of 36,786,444 views and its still 'Boyl-ing'. (Here is the URL to YouTube ~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY)

In 1995, Paige was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Queen Elizabeth for her contributions to musical theatre. From 2000 to 2001, she starred as Anna in an acclaimed revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I at the London Palladium. Paige had turned down an offer for the role the first time she was approached, but later accepted, admitting that she had "forgotten what a fantastic score it was", although she did question her own suitability for the role. Before the opening, the box office had already taken in excess of £7 million in ticket sales. The critic for The Independent commented, "It may well be impossible to be a success as Evita and a success as Anna",whereas The Spectator asserted that the role further strengthened her title as the "First Lady of British Musical Theatre".

Following a number of roles over the next decade, Paige was selected to play Eva Perón in the first production of Evita in 1978, which brought her to the attention of the broader public. For this role, she won the Laurence Olivier Award for Performance of the Year in a Musical. She went on to originate the role of Grizabella in Cats and had a Top 10 hit with "Memory", a song from the show. In 1985, Paige released "I Know Him So Well" with Barbara Dickson from the musical Chess, which remains the biggest-selling record by a female duo. She has also worked in film and television.

Paige has neither married nor had children, although she had an 11-year affair with the lyricist Tim Rice throughout the 1980s. She has said that she wanted to have children, but "it's a wonderful life I have, so I'm very fulfilled in other ways.

Paige's performance of the song "Memory" from Cats, with which she had a Top 10 hit, is her signature piece. The single reached number 5 in the UK charts and has since been recorded by a further 160 artists. She reprised the role of Grizabella for the video release of Cats in 1998, one of only two performers in the film from the original London cast. Paige's website claims that the video soon became the bestselling music video in the UK and America.

From 1981 - 2009 Elaine has recorded in total 21 solo albums. In 1985, Paige released "I Know Him So Well", a duet from Chess, singing with Barbara Dickson. The single held the number 1 position in the British singles charts for four weeks, and still remains the biggest-selling record by a female duo, according to the Guinness Book of Records. From 1986 to 1987, Paige appeared as Florence in the stage production of Chess, a role that earned her another Laurence Olivier Award nomination in the category of Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Musical. She next sang at the White House in 1988. Elaine Paige has expressed an interest in singing a duet with Britain's Got Talent contender, Susan Boyle, after Boyle had cited Paige as her idol. [wikipedia]