She was born in Barnet, Hertfordshire. She is most famous for playing many of the female leads in Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice musicals, such as Eva Perón in Evita, Grizabella in Cats and Florence in Chess.
She has also had moderate sucess in the UK singles charts, noteble with the number one single "I Know Him So Well," (a duet with Barbara Dickson) along with a top ten hit "Memory" from the musical Cats.