憶蓮·佩姬 Elaine Paige 是現代音樂劇史上的重要人物，人稱“英國音樂劇第一夫人”。1978年，佩姬被選中出演《貝隆夫人》中貝隆夫人的角色，一炮而紅，奪得了當年倫敦西區各種音樂劇評選的重要獎項。1981年，佩姬出演音樂劇《貓》中的Grizabella，首唱了經久不衰的歌曲《回憶》(memory)。1998年，她應邀在公開發行的錄像片《貓》中重新飾演這個角色，風采依舊不減當年，使得這部作品成為英美地區最暢銷的音樂劇錄影帶。佩姬發行過多張個人演唱專輯，連續奪得過八張金唱片和四張白金唱片。1985年，她的三張專輯"Stages"、"Cinema"和 "Chess"同時入圍英國唱片銷售排行榜前40名。為表彰她的突出成就，1994年，英國音樂人協會授予佩姬金質獎章。1996年，英國最悠久的音像公司HMV授予她終身成就獎；1998年，她獲得英國皇家OBE爵位；1999年，佩姬從英國戲劇協會又拿到一個終身成就獎。 by Bradley Torreano Born Elaine Bickerstaff in the spring of 1951, Elaine Paige would go on to be one of the most recognizable names in theater. She attended the Aida Foster Drama School as she was growing up, preparing her lovely singing voice for musical theater. In the early '70s, she started acting in various London productions, getting small roles in Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar, and finally landing the lead in Grease (opposite an unknown Richard Gere). She eventually quit musical theater to try her hand at television. Her role on the soap Crossroads was hardly memorable, so when she had the chance to star in Andrew Lloyd Weber's Evita she jumped at the opportunity. It was a huge smash, leading to many awards and a 20-month run as the lead character. She left to try and start a pop career, but her first effort, Sitting Pretty, hardly made a dent on the pop charts. Still, her theater success landed her another high profile role in Weber's Cats and a concert hall performance at Royal Festival Hall, both enormous successes. Her eponymous sophomore album was mildly more successful than the last, but it was a series of albums released in the middle of the '80s that brought her the most success. Stages, Cinema, and Love Hurts were all popular efforts that made the Top Ten in the U.K., and her efforts in Tim Rice's Chess led to a hit single, "I Know Him So Well." Her release schedule only became more frantic as the years went by, she put out albums almost yearly and performed in several huge productions for the British stage including Piaf, Anything Goes, and Sunset Boulevard. When Sunset Boulevard came to New York in 1996, it was her first time on Broadway. She was met with much critical admiration, and brought her considerable talents to a television special for the BBC called A South Bank Show. The special showed her visiting different parts of the world where her plays had been set, and performing songs there in character. It was soon after this that she was showered with awards from critic collectives, theatrical organizations, and even the Queen of England for her years of service to the British theater. She spent the second half of the '90s performing at many tribute and benefit concerts, as well as her first major non-singing role on the stage, The Misanthrope. Her recording schedule slowed down considerably after 1998. In 2000, she started on a successful run of the King and I and began work on a second duet album with Barbara Dickson.