Steve Ellis, Love Affair frontman on Everlasting Love, dies aged 76
Steve Ellis, the London-born singer who fronted 1960s pop-rock band Love Affair, has died aged 76. A social media message said he died peacefully on 30 October after complications from a chronic illness. Born in Edgware, north-west London, in 1950, he formed Soul Survivors at 15, inspired by Black US soul and R&B acts including James Brown, whom he saw live. The group became Love Affair in the mid-1960s and signed to Decca. Their debut, She Smiled Sweetly, arrived almost alongside the Rolling Stones’ original and flopped.
The follow-up, Everlasting Love — a Buzz Cason and Mac Gayden song first recorded by Robert Knight — was cut by Ellis between building-site shifts and spent two weeks at UK No 1 in 1968. Love Affair’s version remains the most popular on streaming services and a wedding staple, even as Carl Carlton’s 1974 recording reached No 6 in the US. Three more UK Top 10 hits followed: Rainbow Valley (another Cason-Gayden/Knight song, 11 weeks in the Top 40), A Day Without Love and Bringing on Back the Good Times.
Ellis left as the band leaned toward progressive rock; he said he was a “soul-boy” and that screaming fans made playing impossible. In 1972 he formed Ellis, whose debut was produced by Roger Daltrey, then Widowmaker with former Hawkwind guitarist Huw Lloyd Langton, recording a 1976 debut before leaving. Solo albums included The Last Angry Man (1977) and Basement Days (1983). Best of Days (2008) featured Daltrey and Paul Weller; Weller co-wrote and co-produced later work including Boom! Bang! Twang! (2018), Just to Simplify (2022) and three songs on Baby Faced Assassin, released in September. Weller paid tribute: “God bless ya Stevie safe travels everlasting love for sure.”
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