Love Affair

In 1966 a five-piece ensemble came together in London, consisting of Steve Ellis on vocals, Morgan Fisher on keyboards (born 1 January 1950 in London), Rex Brayley on guitar, Mick Jackson on bass and Maurice Bacon on drums. Though Ellis had yet to reach his seventeenth birthday, the musicians appeared regularly in clubs while holding semi-professional status. After Lynton Guest substituted briefly for Fisher, Ellis entered a studio in 1967 with session players to cut a bright interpretation of Robert Knight’s “Everlasting Love” for CBS Records. The single climbed unexpectedly to number 1 in the UK the following January, instantly elevating Love Affair to pop prominence as Ellis’s boyish features filled teen magazines across Britain.

Guided by Maurice’s father Sid Bacon, the group declined advances from larger industry figures but never fully realized their commercial promise. Four further Top 20 singles arrived—“Rainbow Valley,” “A Day Without Love,” “One Road” and “Bringing On Back The Good Times”—yet Ellis exited in 1969 to launch a solo career. He issued scattered singles and the soundtrack for Loot, then teamed with Zoot Money in the band Ellis, which delivered two Epic Records albums: Riding On The Crest Of A Slump (1972) and … Why Not? (1973). Ellis subsequently supplied vocals for Widowmaker and recorded the solo album The Last Angry Man in 1978; it appeared briefly on cassette before receiving a full release in 2000.

The remaining members enlisted Gus Eadon (born Auguste Eadon, formerly of Elastic Band) as vocalist and pivoted toward progressive material. Their second album surfaced early in 1971 under the shortened name LA in hopes of reaching older listeners, but it sold poorly and CBS terminated the contract six months later. Re-signed to Parlophone Records as Love Affair, the band failed to regain momentum. Bacon and Fisher departed to form Morgan, whose 1973 RCA Records release was titled Nova Solis. Fisher later performed with Mott The Hoople and the Third Ear Band, issued eccentric solo work on Cherry Red Records throughout the 1980s, and developed a career in Japan. Bacon entered music publishing and management, while Jackson rose to a senior position in the Alfa Romeo automobile organization. A later incarnation containing none of the original members released minor singles on Pye Records and Creole before trading on the band’s name for cabaret and revival engagements.