Stephen John Ellis (born 7 April 1950) is an English

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

singer. His biggest success was with the band Love Affair in the late 1960s.

Early life

Stephen John Ellis was born in

Edgware Edgware () is a suburban town in northwest London. It was an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex east of the ancient Watling Street in what is now the London Borough of Barnet but it is now informally considered to cover a wider area, inc ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

. His first band was called The Clifton Bystanders. When his career as a professional musician took off, he was working part-time at a

Co-op A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democr ...

Career

Love Affair

When Ellis left the Clifton Bystanders, he formed his first band as the lead vocalist, which was called Soul Survivors, formed when he was fifteen. The Soul Survivors formed into Love Affair in 1966, with Rex Brayley, Mick Jackson, Lynton Guest, and Maurice Bacon. A few months later, in early 1967, the band released their first two singles, including "

Everlasting Love "Everlasting Love" is a song written by Buzz Cason and Mac Gayden, originally a 1967 hit for Robert Knight and since covered numerous times. The most successful version in the UK was performed by Love Affair and the highest-charting version ...

", a song that knocked The Beatles' "

Hello, Goodbye "Hello, Goodbye" (sometimes titled "Hello Goodbye") is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. Backed by John Lennon's " I Am the Walrus", it was issued as a non-album single ...

" off the number one spot on British charts. Love Affair would go on to have more commercial success, with songs such as " A Day Without Love", " Rainbow Valley", and "

Bringing on Back the Good Times "Bringing on Back the Good Times" is a song by The Love Affair. The song was released internationally in early July 1969. It became a Top 10 hit in the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Israel and was also a minor hit in Canada for 'Fast Eddy' in ...

". In 1967, Ellis and the band were arrested for climbing the

statue of Eros A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size. A sculpture ...

Piccadilly Circus Piccadilly Circus is a road junction and public space of London's West End of London, West End in the City of Westminster. It was built in 1819 to connect Regent Street with Piccadilly. In this context, a ''List of road junctions in the Unite ...

. They were each fined £12 for the crime. Ellis later felt that Love Affair had run its course, and he left in December 1969 for a solo career: "We never really made it big anywhere but Britain and I think that if we had started to happen in America, I wouldn't have left."

Widowmaker

Ellis subsequently had limited chart success with the rock band Widowmaker, releasing the album '' Widowmaker'' in 1976. Widowmaker toured the UK with

Nazareth Nazareth is the largest Cities in Israel, city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. In its population was . Known as "the Arab capital of Israel", Nazareth serves as a cultural, political, religious, economic and ...

, and in June 1976 joined the stadium tour, ''The Who Put The Boot In'' opening for leading

acts such as

Little Feat Little Feat is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California formed by lead vocalist and guitarist Lowell George, bassist Roy Estrada (both formerly of the Mothers of Invention), keyboardist Bill Payne, and drummer Richie Hayward in ...

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band The Sensational Alex Harvey Band were a Scottish rock band formed in Glasgow in 1972. Fronted by Alex Harvey accompanied by Zal Cleminson on guitar, bassist Chris Glen, keyboard player Hugh McKenna (28 November 1949 – 18 December 2019) an ...

Streetwalkers Streetwalkers were an English rock band formed in late 1973 by two former members of rock band Family, vocalist Roger Chapman and guitarist John "Charlie" Whitney. They were a five piece band which evolved from the Chapman Whitney Band. The b ...

and the headline act

The Who The Who are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup (1964–1978) consisted of lead vocalist Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon. Considered one of th ...

. Ellis left the band after touring with

Electric Light Orchestra The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1970 by multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood and drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of pop and classical arrangement ...

, and with a new lead singer (John Butler), released their second album, Too Late to Cry in 1977.

Later career

In 1972, he formed the band Ellis, a short lived partnership with keyboardist

Zoot Money George Bruno "Zoot" Money (17 July 1942 – 8 September 2024) was an English vocalist, keyboardist and bandleader. He was best known for playing the Hammond organ and for his leadership of the Big Roll Band. Inspired by Jerry Lee Lewis and Ra ...

. Other members included ex-

Peter Bardens Peter Bardens (19 June 1945 – 22 January 2002) was an English keyboardist and a founding member of the progressive rock group Camel. He played keyboards, sang, and wrote songs with Andrew Latimer. During his career, Bardens worked alongside ...

guitarist Andy Gee; ex- Fat Mattress bassist Jimmy Leverton, later replaced by Nick South; and drummer Dave Lutton. The group released two albums, ''Riding on the Crest of a Slump'' in 1972, and ''Why Not?'' the following year. In 1976, one of the most popular Serbian and ex-Yugoslav bands,

Smak Smak ( sr-Cyrl, Смак; trans. ''The end time'') was a Serbian and SFRY, Yugoslav band from Kragujevac. The group reached the peak of popularity in the 1970s when it was one of the most notable acts of the yu rock, former Yugoslav rock scene. T ...

, covered his song "El Doomo" under the title "El dumo", and achieved great success with it. He also sang on the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

of '' Loot'', a 1970 film based on

Joe Orton John Kingsley Orton (1 January 1933 – 9 August 1967), known by the pen name of Joe Orton, was an English playwright, author, and diarist. His public career, from 1964 until his murder in 1967 committed by his partner, was short but highly i ...

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

, directed by

Silvio Narizzano Silvio Narizzano (8 February 192726 July 2011) was a Canadian film and television director, who lived and worked primarily in the United Kingdom. He is best known for directing the acclaimed 1966 comedy-drama film '' Georgy Girl,'' which is cons ...

. Ellis was performing briefly with New Amen Corner during 2013 and had an album with appearances by

Paul Weller John William Weller (born 25 May 1958), better known as Paul Weller, is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Weller achieved fame in the late 1970s as the guitarist and principal singer and songwriter of the rock band the Jam, alongside ...

and

Roger Daltrey Sir Roger Harry Daltrey (born 1 March 1944) is an English singer, musician and actor. He is the co-founder and lead vocalist of the Rock music, rock band the Who, known for his powerful voice and charismatic stage presence. His stage persona ear ...

out on Demon Records in 2008, entitled ''The Best of Days''.

Personal life

Ellis currently lives in

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

, England. He was influenced by the rock and roll of the 1950s, but was mainly inspired by rhythm and blues music.

Discography

Love AffairWidowmaker * Album: Widowmaker (1976) * Single: "On the Road"/"Pin a Rose on Me" (1976) * Single: "When I Met You"/"Pin a Rose on Me" (1976) * Single: "Pin a Rose on Me"/"On the Road" (1976)

References

External links

Official site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ellis, Steve 1950 births Living people English male singers English male songwriters English rock singers People from Edgware Widowmaker (British band) members Singers from the London Borough of Barnet