The one record my wife Lou would take on a desert island if she were only allowed the one tune would be ‘Everlasting Love’ by Love Affair.
The original single, bought at the time of release in 1968 by her older sister Helen I believe, is her pride and joy. I would say it is in the top five of all her possessions. Whenever she is at a wedding or a house party she is never happy til she has heard ‘her’ song.
When your correspondent was DJ for the annual Small Faces convention in the early days, Steve Ellis was a guest performer one year, booked by a mutual mate of ours, the badly missed boxing matchmaker Dean Powell. Lou brought the 45 along with her and got it signed by the man himself. I believe she was still in shock at meeting him a few hours later.
I confess have a soft spot for it too. It has just become one of those tunes. A standard. A classic even and it is the voice of Steve Ellis, a proper little mod from Edgware, leading the way.
Born on April 7th 1950, Steve was singing in bands from the tender age of 15. His first outfit the ‘Soul Survivors’ ended up playing all over the UK, including the major venues of the day, including Tiles, The Marquee and The Flamingo. Originally signed to Decca, they moved to CBS as ‘Love Affair’ and so began releasing a series of much loved singles.
‘Everlasting Love’ was originally released in 1967 by Robert Knight. The band picked up on the track and recorded under the production stewardship of Muff Winwood, one time member of The Spencer Davis Group and older brother of Stevie.
After the hearing the tape, CBS decided to recut the track using session men instead of the actual band, but left Steve on vocal duty, with backing vocals provided by Kiki Dee and Madeline Bell
The single hit the number 1 spot for two weeks in February 1968 and in reality, the actual members of the ‘Love Affair were more than capable players, but those in power at the label took it out of their hands, literally.
The inevitable bad press followed, once the ‘session men not real band’ situation was revealed, but no real harm was done, as the band continued to have top ten hits through 1968 and 1969 with songs like ‘Rainbow Valley’ ‘A Day Without Love’ and a blinding version of ‘Hush’ that I have always been partial to.
Feeling it was time to move on however, Steve took the decision to go solo from December 1969. He sang on the soundtrack the 1970 film ‘Loot’, whose standout tracks include ‘More More More’ and ‘Loots The Root’ which employed Doris Tory on backing vocals
1971 saw him teaming up with Zoot Money in the band ‘Ellis’ and he once again had chart success, all be it limited, with ‘Widowmaker’ in 1976
Retiring from the music business when Punk kicked in, Steve worked for a time as a docker. Sadly in 1981 he suffered a horrendous injury to his feet and so began many years of hospital treatment.
He slowly recovered his health, with studying martial arts as part of the process.
Once able, Steve finally went back to what he knew best and hit the road on a succession of tours performing the old tunes, plus a few new ones under the name of ‘Steve Ellis’ Love Affair’
And he hasn’t really stopped. For a few years now, he has been on 60 date tours around the UK, with the likes of Chris Farlowe among others, as well as recording new material.
So, bringing it all up to date, his latest album ‘Boom! Bang! Twang! Is released on April 20th
Co – produced by long time fan and friend Paul Weller, with great cover art by Paul McEvoy, it finds Steve back at CBS/Sony, where of course, it all begun all those years ago.
And for my missus Lou, that is as it should be.
The Mumper of SE5
