Perhaps best known as the vocalist in '60s pop and soul quintet Love Affair, whose hit "Everlasting Love" reached the top of the U.K. singles chart in 1968, Steve Ellis was born in Edgware, Middlesex in April 1950. Ellis first found fame at the age of 15 when he fronted the Soul Survivors, a local North London band who soon made a name for themselves after playing some of London's most iconic venues such as The Marquee and The Flamingo. With a single under their belt, the band signed to CBS and changed their name to Love Affair, and went on to release a string of singles, including the number one "Everlasting Love." A year after the single's success, Ellis decided to quit the band, focusing on a new direction but never leaving his mod roots behind. A string of bands followed, including Widowmaker and Ellis, but neither achieved the success of the Love Affair. By the end of the '70s, Ellis had retired from the music business, taking up work as a docker before a car accident in 1981 left him unable to walk and saw him spending the majority of the '80s in and out of hospital and learning to walk again. At the beginning of the '90s, Ellis put together his own version of the Love Affair, playing live shows at '60s nostalgia weekenders and nights across the U.K., before issuing the 1994 live album, Plugged In: Live at the Cavendish. Continuing on the live circuit for the rest of the decade, Ellis issued the single "Step Inside My Love" for the British charity NSPCC, with the record featuring a guest spot by Paul Weller. Throughout the noughties, reissues of Love Affair records, Widowmaker, and a selection of live albums appeared under his name. Ellis' connection with Weller continued as well -- he played alongside him at the Steve Marriott Memorial Concert in 2001, as well as on the 2004 album Sort of Innocence. Ellis returned in 2011 with Ten Commitments on Angel Air and continued to tour over the next few years before re-entering the studio to record his follow-up. 2018's Boom Bang Twang!, saw Ellis teaming up again with Weller for a collection of covers and original material. The release also saw him return to Sony, who'd given Love Affair's "Everlasting Love" its original release. ~ Rich Wilson