As an actress onstage and on television, Toms River, New Jersey-born performer Anjelia Pelay has stolen the heart of wrestler Randy Orton, charmed Gene Simmons, and channeled both Britney Spears and the Beatles with equal aplomb. But Anjelia (say it anj-uh-LEE-uh!), all that acting was just a warm-up for her true passion: music.

To pursue a songwriting habit that developed at the tender age of five, Pelay returned from Hollywood to New Jersey to join the white-hot Asbury Park music scene. As a true quintuple threat -- actress, dancer, singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist -- she's quickly risen through the region's ranks.

As a true performer at heart, she's bringing an excitingly theatrical flair to the often-staid world of singer-songwriter fare. Anjelia's soulful, hook-laden contemporary pop-rock has won industry kudos from the likes of producer Rodney Jerkins and former Styx bassist/vocalist Glen Burtnik, with whom she regularly performs in his celebrated Beatlemania shows.

In the past year that she's devoted full time to music, besides guest starring frequently in Burtnik's productions, she's sung backup for Patty Smyth, and opened for Jeffrey Gaines and Nicole Atkins. The Aquarian dubbed her "worth watching" after one of her early performances in Manhattan, and the Trentonian recently called her a "multi-talented" "statuesque beauty" who is "the total package."

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