#25 trendingSteve Ellis

Steve Ellis Remembered: Tributes Pour In for the Love Affair Singer Behind 'Everlasting Love'

By Trend Desk · · 3 min read

Illustration of a vintage tube radio and a stack of vinyl singles on a wooden table under warm lamplight
Illustration (AI-generated)

Tributes have continued for Steve Ellis, the British singer whose voice carried Love Affair’s “Everlasting Love” to No. 1 in the U.K. in 1968. Ellis died on the evening of Oct. 30 at 76, after what a statement on his official Facebook page described as “complications from a chronic illness.” No specific cause of death has been disclosed, Billboard reported.

How the news broke

The first word came from songwriter David Courtney, a longtime friend, who wrote on Facebook that he was “sad to announce the passing of my long time friend Steve Ellis,” The Independent reported. Courtney added, “My thoughts are with Val and the family,” according to Billboard. Ellis’s official page then confirmed his death, saying he “peacefully left the world… in the presence of his loved ones.”

“He was a mod legend”

Musician Norman Beaker, who said he recently played on a track from Ellis’s newest record, called him “a good friend and a great voice,” The Independent reported. “He was a legend with the mod movement, a great character, he will be sadly missed,” Beaker wrote.

BCM Entertainments, a Kent-based festival and events company, also paid tribute: “His unforgettable music provided the soundtrack to so many memories.”

The hit, and the controversy

Love Affair’s cover of Robert Knight’s “Everlasting Love,” written by Buzz Cason and Mac Gayden, spent two weeks at No. 1 on the U.K. chart in 1968, according to Billboard, citing the Official Charts Company. Knight’s original reached No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100; Love Affair’s version did not chart in the U.S.

The Independent recalled that the success brought controversy when it emerged that session musicians, not the band, played on the record. The band said the uproar was engineered by its management for publicity, and the hits kept coming. Billboard lists “Rainbow Valley” (No. 5), “A Day Without Love” (No. 6) and “Bring on Back the Good Times” (No. 9).

A career after Love Affair

Ellis started singing professionally at 15 with the North London band the Soul Survivors, which became Love Affair in 1967, Billboard reported. Both The Independent and Billboard say he left the group in 1969; some earlier obituaries gave 1970.

  • Ellis (1972-73): a band he formed with keyboardist Zoot Money, which released “Riding on the Crest of a Slump” and “Why Not?”
  • Widowmaker: the rock band he fronted in the mid-1970s
  • Away from music: he took a job on the docks; a 1981 forklift accident badly injured his feet and led to years of surgery
  • Steve Ellis’ Love Affair (1991-98): his own touring version of the band
  • Solo work: “Best of Days” (2008) featured Roger Daltrey and Paul Weller

Earlier this year, Ellis told The Strange Brew he had recorded a new album and was mixing it, The Independent reported. He kept touring small venues around the country.

FAQ

When did Steve Ellis die?

On the evening of Oct. 30, 2026. He was 76.

What was his cause of death?

The statement on his official Facebook page cited complications from a chronic illness and did not name it.

Did Love Affair play on “Everlasting Love”?

The music was provided by session musicians, which caused a stir at the time. Ellis sang the lead vocal.

Earlier coverage: Steve Ellis, Love Affair Singer Behind 'Everlasting Love,' Dies at 76 (Nov 3)

Sources