Lance Ellington (born 22 June 1957) is an English singer, songwriter and actor.
Ellington, the only son of the band leader
Ray Ellington
Henry Pitts Brown (17 March 1916 – 27 February 1985), known professionally as Ray Ellington, was an English singer, drummer and bandleader. He is best known for his appearances on ''The Goon Show'' from 1951 to 1960. The Ray Ellington Quartet h ...
, specialises in
swing and
big ballads. He has worked with many artists including
Sting
Sting may refer to:
* Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger
* Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself
Fictional characters and entities
* Sting (Middle-eart ...
,
George Michael
George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the most significant cultural icons of the MTV generation and is one of the best-selling musici ...
,
Gloria Gaynor
Gloria Gaynor ( née Fowles; born September 7, 1943) is an American singer, best known for the disco era hits "I Will Survive" (1978), " Let Me Know (I Have a Right)" (1979), " I Am What I Am" (1983), and her version of "Never Can Say Goodbye" ( ...
,
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...
and
Robbie Williams
Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, and achieved commercial success after launching a solo career in 1996. His debut stud ...
, and currently makes regular performances on the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
programme ''
Strictly Come Dancing
''Strictly Come Dancing'' (informally known as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly ballroom and Latin dance. Each couple is scored by a panel of usually 4 ...
''.
Career
After leaving school, Ellington entered and won the 1977 final of the television talent show ''
New Faces
''New Faces'' is a British television talent show that aired in the 1970s and 1980s. It has been hosted by Leslie Crowther, Derek Hobson and Marti Caine. It was produced for the ITV network by ATV, and later by Central.
Original series: 1973 ...
'' as a member of the duo Koffee 'n' Kreme with singing partner Beth Hannah. He followed this with a tour with
Johnny Mathis
John Royce Mathis (born September 30, 1935) is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standard music, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum s ...
and a performance in the
Royal Variety Show
The ''Royal Variety Performance'' is a televised variety show held annually in the United Kingdom to raise money for the Royal Variety Charity (of which King Charles III is life-patron). It is attended by senior members of the British royal f ...
. His career continued as a
session singer
Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a t ...
with many top artists and working on several
albums
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records coll ...
. He went on to sing "Love You Too" the main theme song for
Lee Van Cleef
Clarence LeRoy Van Cleef Jr. (January 9, 1925 – December 16, 1989) was an American actor. He appeared in over 170 film and television roles in a career spanning nearly 40 years, but is best known as a star of Italian Spaghetti Westerns, partic ...
's last movie ''
Thieves of Fortune
''Thieves of Fortune'' (other titles - ''Chameleon'' and ''May the Best Man Win'') is a 1990 American action film directed by Michael MacCarthy. It is Lee Van Cleef's last film, released the year after he died of a heart attack.
Premise
In order ...
'' (1988).
In 1993 his single, "Lonely (Have We Lost Our Love)", peaked at number 57 in the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
.
Ellington's solo career includes studio albums, stage and club appearances and writing songs for
Steps and
Westlife
Westlife is an Irish pop vocal group formed in Dublin, Ireland in 1998. The group currently consists of members Shane Filan, Mark Feehily, Kian Egan, and Nicky Byrne. Brian McFadden was a member, until he left in 2004. The group temporarily di ...
. In 2004, he appeared as his late father in the film ''
The Life and Death of Peter Sellers
''The Life and Death of Peter Sellers'' is a 2004 television film about the life of English comedian Peter Sellers, based on Roger Lewis's book of the same name. 1108 pagesPublished in the U.S. via Applause BooksA very comprehensive biography, w ...
'' and, in 1993, sang a duet with
Cathy Dennis
Catherine Roseanne Dennis (born 25 March 1969)Gregory, Andy (2002) ''International Who's Who in Popular Music 2002'', Europa; , p. 133 is a British singer, songwriter, record producer and actress. She was the vocalist for D Mob, which had the su ...
on the soundtrack of ''
Robin Hood: Men in Tights''. In 2012, Ellington was the resident vocalist on ''Strictly Come Dancing''. In the same year he featured with
Mary Carewe
Mary Carewe is an English singer and vocal coach, best known as one of the lead vocalists in Karl Jenkins' musical project '' Adiemus'', often singing harmonies with Miriam Stockley.
She was born in England and trained as a singer in London. Her ...
as a soloist in the ''James Bond 50th Anniversary Gala Concert'', which was broadcast on
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
and shown on BBC television in December 2012.
Personal life
Ellington has one daughter, Lauren, who has performed in West End productions.
[
]
Discography
Albums
*''Pleasure and Pain'' – A&M Records
A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...
(1990)
*''Lessons in Love'' – Vocalion Records
Vocalion Records is an American record company and label.
History
The label was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Company, a maker of pianos and organs, as Aeolian-Vocalion; the company also sold phonographs under the Vocalion name. "Aeolian" was ...
(2005)
*''There Comes A Time'' – Artemis Records
Artemis Records was a New York-based independent record label, founded in July 1999 by Danny Goldberg with Daniel Glass as President, and closed in April 2006. The label was acquired by E1 Entertainment.
Artemis had a leading share of the U.S. i ...
(2007)
*''Aspects of Ellington'' – Upbeat Recordings (2012)
Singles and EPs
*"Love Scared" – A&M Records (1990)
*"Treat Me Right" – A&M Records (1990)
*"Love Me More" – A&M Records (12") (1990)
*"Don't Ever Leave Me Again" – A&M Records (12", Promo) (1990)
*"I'm Falling Too" (12") – Club House featuring Lance Ellington – Media Records (1992)
*"Lonely (Have We Lost Our Love)" – RCA Records
RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...
(1993) – UK No. 57
*"Gimme Love" – Media Records Ltd (1994)
*"Gimme Love" / "Change The Way" (12") – Lance Ellington / Maria Short – Pro DJ International (1994)
*"Lonely '96" – East Side Records
Almighty Records is an English electronic dance music record label established in 1989. Almighty Records specialises in pop song remixes, dance-pop, and hi-NRG. The label's record producers, Almighty Associates, have remixed such performers as R ...
(1996)
Miscellaneous
*EVO (15) featuring Lance Ellington – "Summer Beach" (CD promo) – Interscope Digital Distribution (2011)
*He sang backing vocals on the song The Golden Boy recorded in 1987 for the album Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
with Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara; 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a British singer and songwriter, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. Regarded as one of the greatest singers in the ...
and Montserrat Caballé
Montserrat Caballé i Folch or Folc (full name: María de Montserrat Bibiana Concepción Caballé i Folch (, , ; (12 April 1933 – 6 October 2018), known simply as Montserrat Caballé, was a Catalan Spanish operatic soprano. She sang a wide va ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellington, Lance
1957 births
Living people
English male singers
English male film actors
English songwriters
English session musicians
English people of African-American descent
English people of Russian-Jewish descent
Musicians from London
People educated at Kingham Hill School
British male songwriters