Love Affair Is Everlasting Love

From LoveToKnow Dating

For many, the ultimate song by the band Love Affair is "Everlasting Love." One of the staples of the feel-good love hits of the 60's, there are many characteristics of the song that have made it a favorite of couples all over the world.

The Love Affair is Everlasting Love – Sort Of

The story of how the single became a hit is a varied one, but the band itself had a typical history that many shared during that time. Formed in the UK, it consisted of the following original members:

Steve Ellis on vocals
Rex Brayley on lead guitar
Lynton Guest on keyboards (1967-1968, replaced by Morgan Fisher from 1968-1971)
Maurice Bacon on percussion
Mick Jackson (name changed from "Michael Jackson," probably fortunately) on bass

The band didn't get off to a stellar success. Their first single was a song written by fellow British invasion artists Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, but it was a flop. They then found a song that had been previously recorded by Robert Knight that had made it to number 13 on the British charts: Everlasting Love. The song had already been rejected by the band Marmalade, on the grounds that it was too "pop."

Marmalade's loss was the Love Affair's gain: Steve Ellis's vocal style fit well with the Motown-inspired arrangement, and the song rocketed to number one in 1968.

Controversy! Or, Not

Then the tabloids went wild when the band admitted that they had not played the instruments on the hit single. They had tried, in a version produced by Muff Winwood, but Columbia Records had rejected that version. Bringing in studio musicians, they re-recorded the version that went to the top of the charts. Publicly the artists were castigated by fans, critics, and even fellow musicians.

The strange thing about this was that the practice was actually quite common, used on many records for all sorts of artists. While it may have been a little weird to have the band get credit for a recording of a song they didn't write and which actually only featured one of them performing – Steve Ellis on vocals – the fact is that it happened all the time. Regardless, it was the version arranged by Keith Mansfield that stuck.

Further Successes

The year, 1968 continued to be a good year for the band – two more songs made it to the top 20, Rainbow Valley and A Day Without Love. In 1969 there were two more, One Road and Bringing Back the Good Times. However, the band was getting uncomfortable with their teen-idol status, playing for screaming fans and having their hits be over-produced anthems featuring Steve Ellis but no one else. He left the band in 1969, and they never had another hit, though they continued to play.

Modern Day Love Affair

The fact is, the musical legacy of Love Affair is Everlasting Love. The song has been featured in several movies, most notably Bridget Jones: the Edge of Reason, which featured the original version in the film. However, the soundtrack released did not have their song - rather, it was a cover version sung by Jamie Cullum that had also played in the credits.

Still, the band and the song linger on, especially in the age of digital reproductions and cabarets – both the original members of Love Affair and Steve Ellis still perform to cheering fans. This YouTube performance from the TV show ZDF in Frankfurt Germany dates from 1992. It features "The Steve Ellis Love Affair" as it's called, and shows the staying power of this hit.

What is it about the song that continues to make artists record and re-record? The year, 2006 saw yet another version produced by Sandra Cretu. It may be the simple longing, common to all romantics, that a relationship will not be temporary – that there can be such a thing as a love that lasts. If that is the case, it is likely that the song will continue to live on far into the future.

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