West End girl
Does Elaine Paige need any introduction? She’s the undisputed queen of the West End musical, a feted visitor to Broadway, possessor of a truly awesome singing voice, not to mention the naughtiest of giggles, and a deliciously down-to-earth superstar whose Sunday lunchtime show on BBC Radio 2 has been delighting musical theatre lovers for the past 17 years.
Having made her professional debut in The Roar of the Greasepaint — The Smell of the Crowd in 1964, she’s since been in everything from Hair to Follies via Grease, Cats, Anything Goes, Sunset Boulevard and Chess.
She sang Memory before Streisand, was Evita way before Madonna and faced off against Barbara Dickson on I Know Him So Well — surely the greatest duet of all time. She’s also released more than a dozen solo albums, done numerous tours and popped up in many a TV show. At 73, she’s a true show-business survivor who, as she sang in Follies, is very much still here. All this, plus her devotion to the LGBTQ+ community, makes Miss Paige thoroughly deserving of our Honorary Gay award.
How does it feel to be named Attitude’s Honorary Gay?
I’m thrilled. I’ve been working in
