Steve Ellis's musical career began in 1966 with Soul Survivors, a Mod band who eventually gravitated towards the thriving central London club scene. They also played up and down the country and established themselves as a good live attraction. They signed to Decca records in 1967, changed their name to The Love Affair and recorded a cover of the Rolling Stones' 'She Smiled Sweetly' as a single, which didn't chart. After switching to CBS they record a cover of 'Everlasting Love' which tops the UK charts in February 1968, turning the band into stars almost overnight. Follow up hits 'Rainbow Valley', 'A Day Without Love', 'One Road', 'Bringing On Back The Good Times' keep the band in the limelight for the next two years, but life on the road along with all the attendant screaming girls at gigs wear the band down and in Decmber 1969, Steve quits to embark on a solo career.
Steve records some solo singles and also contributes to the soundtrack of the film 'Loot', but then opts to get another band together which becomes Ellis and records two albums, 'Riding On The Crest Of A Slump' and 'Why Not?' before disbanding due to a lack of record company support. Steve then gets an offer to join a new band being put together by Luther Grosvenor and this becomes Widowmaker. An album is recorded and the band is offered a support slot on a Who US tour; the grind of the tour and internal friction amongst band members spells the end for Steve and he departs. A solo album is then recorded 'The Last Angry Man' which fails to gain a commercial release ( but is now available via I-Tunes and Angel Air Records) and following almost a year of trying to get it released, Steve throws in the towel and quits the music business altogether.
The next few years are spent working in Southampton docks, where the security of regular pay and regular hours fit in with a home life revolving around raising a young family. Eventually Steve decides to return to music, but on the day of his departure from the docks he suffers an horrific injury that will put him in and out of hospital for the next eight years, undergoing extensive surgery and the constant threat of never being able to walk again. With a great deal of effort and determination, along with taking up Martial Arts, Steve regains his mobility enough to get back into music once again and goes out on the road with Steve Ellis's Love Affair for the next ten years, touring extensively in the UK and Europe. The recording of a solo album is started but halted by family matters which delay it for a couple of years. The album, 'Best Of Days' is released in August 2008 and Steve returns to live performance, doing shows with The New Amen Corner.
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