Steve Ellis, Original Voice of Love Affair

Welcome to Steve's Facebook page. This is officially authorized by the man himself and is hosted by Kevin and Sally, with Steve making contributions to the page, every now and then.

The aim of this page is to provide information on Steve's current activities, gig dates, album releases and re-issues etc. and to make it an interactive focal point for the many fans that Steve has and allow everybody to get to know one another and who knows, maybe meet up at gigs!


Steve Ellis Potted Biography:

When the British R&B scene started in the sixties, all the aspiring young musicians, up and down the country, were trying their best to emulate the sounds they'd heard on precious singles imported from the USA. The biggest ask of all the band members fell to the singer, who had the formidable task of replicating the emotionally charged outpourings of the bluesmen they heard on these records and quite frankly, they almost always failed! Those that didn't, stood more chance than most of grabbing some attention at gigs and then if they were really lucky, attracting the attention of a record company A&R man. The Mod movement that followed, focused more on US soul imports and the same set of rules applied to the singers in these bands and so precious few could really cut it, when they tried to emulate the sounds they heard. Those who who were the best and got to make records are well remembered and respected all these years later: Eric Burdon, Steve Winwood, Steve Marriott, Chris Farlowe, Mike Patto and Reggie King were the elite of the British singers, but not all of them had the opportunity to make a name for themselves in the USA and thus become international superstars.

The mid to late 60's brought another superb vocalist to the British record buying public's attention when his band's second release hit the number one spot at the end of 1967. The band were Love Affair, the song was "Everlasting Love" and the singer was a sixteen year old Steve Ellis!

Steve Ellis' initial interest in playing music only extended as far as bashing some biscuit tins whilst two brothers strummed Kay's catalogue guitars in their mum's front room,. He was about 12 or 13 and wanted to be a 'proper' drummer, but his pleas to his dad for help to buy a decent drum kit failed, so he got the bullet from that particular embryonic beat combo! A few years later, another mate of his, who used to play his guitar round Steve's house, whilst Steve sang along, dragged him off to accompany him on an audition in Tottenham for a band who'd taken out an ad in Melody Maker. His mate, didn't get the gig, but Steve sang at the audition and did and a career was born!

That band were called Soul Survivors and although only aged sixteen (the drummer was fourteen) played in hundreds of clubs & dance halls around the country for the next couple of years. They did the rounds and paid their dues, got a record deal with Decca and recorded a cover of The Rolling Stones 'She Smiled Sweetly', but it did nothing chartwise and the band played on! The band then switched to CBS Records and got offered the chance to record a cover of Everlasting Love, which had been submitted by their management at a rehearsal in Tottenham where they rehearsed endlessly. The song had recently been a US hit for Robert Knight, the band went for it and were packed off to record it under the guidance of Muff Winwood at Island Studios. They did their best to do a group version of what was a big production number, but the results didn't seem to have the magic ingredient. This was no bad reflection on the band's musical talents, as they were more than competent, even though they were so very young at the time and could slug it out with the best of them live! The decision was taken to put Steve in the studio with a bigger band, an orchestra, in fact and the results, along with a name change to (The) Love Affair, catapaulted them to the top of the charts by the early days of 1968.

Suddenly, they could do no wrong, subsequent hits kept them in the charts through '68 and on into '69. They gigged all over the U.K. and Europe, but were lumped into the teenybopper bracket and were screamed at by young girls wherever they went.The songs that were hits for the band were shining examples of late 60's big production pop; Everlasting Love has become one of the defining songs of that era and Rainbow Valley almost equally so, both songs being written by Buzz Cason and Mac Gayden. Their other hits were written by Phillip Goodhand-Tait, who effectively became a non participating band member . Steve was the pin up poster boy of the times, (along with the equally very young Peter Frampton & Andy Fairweather Low) and although all this success and adulation seemed to be all a band could ever want, it started to ring hollow and contributed to Steve's decision to quit the band and opt for a solo career as 1969 wore on as Steve felt the music could no longer be heard. He hadn't even reached the age of twenty and he was heading out into the big world as a solo artist!

First came a couple of singles for CBS, produced by Chas Chandler who had become Steve`s manager, after the late great Jimi Handrix sadly passed away.Steve then recorded the soundtrack album to the film of Joe Orton's "Loot" with the Keith Mansfield Orchestra which contained, notably, Clem Cattini (drums) Herbie Flowers (bass) & Big JIm Sullivan(guitar) amongst other world class session players. After this, Steve decided that he was missing playing in a band and so set about putting together the band that became known as simply Ellis. Two albums were issued, "Riding on the Crest of a Slump" produced by Roger Daltrey and "Why Not" produced by Mike Vernon, before the band, lacking any real record company support, ran out of steam and were forced to split up. Steve then joined up with Widowmaker on Roger Chapman & Bobby Tench`s recommendation, they were a much more hard rocking outfit and with a newly released album under their belts they toured the USA supporting label mates E.L.O.and in the U.K.with The Who, Nazareth & Uriah Heep, but the grind of the tours and bad chemistry within the band caused Steve to part company on their return home from a particularly gruelling tour.

The next move was to record a solo album and "The Last Angry Man" was recorded, but it never got released due to a row between the Producers and this was Steve's cue to quit the business and get a job that would pay regular wages so he could support his young family properly. This was all well and good, but the desire to make music returned and Steve handed in his notice at his job in Shoreham docks after being declared athlete fit by his doctor, but on the last day at work he suffered an horrific accident that would have him in and out of hospitals for the next eight years, whilst he learned to walk again. Eventually, he managed to gain almost full mobility after studying Martial Arts with a passion which allowed him to gig again and with Steve Ellis' Love Affair, he toured in the UK and Europe solidly for ten years.

During this time, Steve also found time to initiate with his friend Dean Powell (World renowned Boxer, Promoter/Match maker) what would become an annual convention dedicated to two of his favourite songwriters Steve Marriott & Ronnie Lane of The Small Faces, which started life at The Ruskin Arms in East Ham and continues yearly to this day in London. In 2001 Steve made a memorable appearance at the Steve Marriott Memorial Concert at the London Astoria as a long overdue tribute to the late great Steve Marriott alongside such names as long time friend Paul Weller Noel Gallagher & the remaining members of The Small Faces and a celebrity packed cast too long to mention.Press reports claimed Steve stole the show check out the DVD for your own opinion.

Work began on another solo album, but progress was halted when Steve's young son became seriously ill. The album "Best of Days" finally appeared in late 2008 and garnered favourable reviews and Steve began gigging again with backing from the excellent New Amen Corner, who sometimes appear under the name of Big City Allstars. Another solo album, recorded with B.C.A. has been completed at The Hideout Studios and will be released in late 2011. A biography is in the works too, along with more gigs and much more music.Look out for a Re-Issue of LOOT the soundtrack on Angel Air Records and additionally an album recorded but unreleased after Steve left Love Affair has been unearthed by SONY and is currently in Liam Watson`s Toerag Studios awaiting transfer from Analogue it should be a blast hearing that for the first time after forty years.