Steve Ellis was 17 years old, working shifts on a building site, when he was sent to a London studio where a 40-piece orchestra was waiting. The song was “Everlasting Love.” Two takes later, by his own account, he had recorded a No. 1 hit in Britain — and not one of the four other members of his band, Love Affair, had played a note on it. Ellis died on the evening of Oct. 30, 2026, at 76, after what his family called “complications from a chronic illness.”

If the name is new to you, that is the point of this story. Love Affair were a mod-soul pop group from north London, huge in Britain in 1968 and, according to Wikipedia, without a single US chart entry. Here is the record:

A mod from Finchley with a biscuit-tin drum kit

Stephen John Ellis was born in Edgware, north London, in 1950 — on April 7, according to Wikipedia; the Guardian gives the year and place. His first band, the Clifton Bystanders, had Ellis on biscuit tins because, as he told Gigslutz, his father “was having none of it” when he asked for a real drum kit. By 15 he was singing with the Soul Survivors, who, per his official site, began by gatecrashing weddings and youth clubs. Decca signed them and renamed them Love Affair; CBS later picked them up. Ellis had also worked part-time at the Co-op, the British grocery chain, where the manager told him he could be assistant manager when he left school; by the time of the record he was on a six-month building-site apprenticeship, per the Express.

Two takes, 40 strings, and a glass of brandy

“Everlasting Love” was not Love Affair’s song. It was written by Buzz Cason and Mac Gayden and recorded first by the American soul singer Robert Knight, whose version, per the Mirror, reached No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. Ellis told the Express: “I was told to go to CBS studios where I found a 40-piece orchestra waiting for me.” (Wikipedia says an earlier band-played version was passed over; unconfirmed.) “I asked the Scottish foreman for a day off,” he said. “He said, ‘What for, laddie?’ I said, ‘I’ve gotta make a record, mate,’ and that was Everlasting Love.”

On the record:

• Vocals: Ellis — the only member of Love Affair to perform on it, per his official site, the Express and Music Republic.
• Producer: Mike Smith. Arranger: Keith Mansfield — both per Ellis’s official site.
• Session players: Ellis told Gigslutz the Keith Mansfield Orchestra “included people such as Clem Cattini, Big Jim Sullivan, all top players.” Wikipedia also credits Cattini on drums.

“I could not believe this wall of sound I was hearing,” Ellis told Gigslutz. “Mike gave me a Brandy and I did it in two takes.” By the April 7, 1950 birth date Wikipedia gives, he was 17.

Number one — but not quite how the obituaries tell it

The record entered the UK chart in early January 1968. Several obituaries, including Clash’s and the Mirror’s, say it knocked the Beatles’ “Hello, Goodbye” off the top. The Official Charts Company’s weekly pages show otherwise:

• Jan. 17–23, 1968: “Hello, Goodbye” is still No. 1. “Everlasting Love” is No. 3.
• Jan. 24–30: Georgie Fame’s “The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde” takes No. 1. “Everlasting Love” is No. 2.
• Jan. 31–Feb. 13: “Everlasting Love” is No. 1 for two weeks, as the Guardian and Express also report.

Music Republic’s 2018 interview adds that it reached the top 10 in seven other countries and has sold more than 10 million copies — figures that, as far as we can tell, rest on that one article.

Jonathan King “outed” the band for not playing on it, Ellis told the Express: “It was common practice back then, but it made all the papers. What a stink.” It did not hurt; per the Guardian, three more UK top-10 hits followed.

Love Affair broke up around the end of 1969 (the Independent and Wikipedia say 1969; the Express interview puts it in 1970). “The main reason we broke up though was the screaming. We couldn’t hear what we were playing. It wasn’t music any more, just madness,” Ellis told the Express.

Fifty years the long way round

What came after was a working career, not a hit-making one:

• 1972–73: Formed the band Ellis with keyboardist Zoot Money; the debut was produced by Roger Daltrey of the Who, per the Guardian and Music Republic.
• 1976: Widowmaker’s debut album. Ellis left before the band continued without him, per the Guardian.
• 1981: Out of music and working at Shoreham Docks, until his feet were crushed by a forklift truck, per the Express and Music Republic only. The Guardian lists a 1983 solo album.
• Early 1990s: Back on stage, per Music Republic.
• 2008: Best of Days, with Daltrey on two tracks and the start of a long collaboration with Paul Weller, per the Guardian.
• 2018: Boom! Bang! Twang!, co-produced by Weller, who co-wrote two tracks, per the Guardian. Weller wrote on Ellis’s official site: “Steve Ellis has earnt the right to sing the Blues if he wants. And sing it he does!”
• September 2026: Baby Faced Assassin, his most recent album, with three songs co-created with Weller, per the Guardian.

Ellis told Music Republic he once “refused to do it for a couple of years,” until fans got “really irate.” His rule from then on: “I do it properly. I don’t treat it like a lot of bands who just got through the motion.”

The last chapter

The announcement came on Ellis’s official Facebook page: “After complications from a chronic illness, Steve peacefully left the world on the evening of October 30, 2026, in the presence of his loved ones.” It signed off with “Everlasting Love.” The illness was not named and no cause of death has been reported. The statement did not say where he died.

Weller, posting about his friend, wrote: “God bless ya Stevie safe travels everlasting love for sure.” Promoter Chris Wood told the Beat that Ellis was already booked to headline the Whitby Pavilion 60s Spectacular in September 2027. “He was so much more than an act on a bill,” Wood said.

His mother, Ellis told Music Republic, never let the Co-op go: even at the height of Love Affair’s fame, she told him, “You could have been manager at the Co-op!” He laughed about it — a man who got by on the voice he was born with and, at 17, two takes and a glass of brandy.

Sources

• Clash, “Love Affair Singer Steve Ellis Has Died” (Nov. 1, 2026)
• The Guardian, “Steve Ellis, frontman of Everlasting Love hitmakers Love Affair, dies aged 76” (Nov. 2, 2026)
• The Independent, “Love Affair frontman Steve Ellis dies at 76” (Nov. 2, 2026)
• Beat Magazine, “Love Affair’s Steve Ellis has died” (Nov. 1, 2026)
• The Mirror, “Love Affair frontman Steve Ellis dies” (Nov. 2, 2026)
• Express (Garry Bushell), “Steve Ellis never lost his everlasting love affair with music” (Dec. 12, 2021)
• Music Republic, “Love Affair’s Steve Ellis: I Could Have Been Manager At The Co-op” (June 2018)
• Gigslutz, “INTERVIEW: Steve Ellis of The Love Affair” (Jan. 2021)
• Steve Ellis official site
• Official Charts Company, UK Singles Chart, week of Jan. 24, 1968 (and the weeks of Jan. 17, Jan. 31 and Feb. 7); Love Affair, “Everlasting Love” chart history
• Wikipedia, “Steve Ellis (musician)”
• Wikipedia, “Love Affair (band)”
• Wikipedia, “Everlasting Love”