Ellen Foley (born 1951) is an American singer and actress who has appeared on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

and television, where she co-starred in the

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

'' Night Court'' for one season. In music, she has released five solo albums but is best known for her collaborations with rock singer Meat Loaf.

Early life and education

Foley was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of John and Virginia B. Foley. She attended

Webster University Webster University is a private university with its main campus in Webster Groves, Missouri. It has multiple branch locations across the United States and countries across Europe, Asia, and Africa. It offers undergraduate and graduate program ...

Career

Vocalist

Foley gained public recognition through singing a duet with Meat Loaf on the hit single " Paradise by the Dashboard Light" from the 1977 album '' Bat Out of Hell''. Foley's part was recorded individually and in one take with Meat Loaf present in the room so she could sing in character. Although

Karla DeVito Karla DeVito (born May 29, 1953) is an American singer and actress. Early life and education DeVito was born in suburban Chicago in Mokena, Illinois. She attended Willow Crest Grade School in Mokena and Lincoln-Way High School in New Lenox. She ...

(who toured with Meat Loaf in support of the album) is featured in the

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...

, DeVito is

lip sync Lip sync or lip synch (pronounced , the same as the word ''sink'', short for lip synchronization) is a technical term for matching a speaking or singing person's lip movements with sung or spoken vocals. Audio for lip syncing is generated th ...

hing to Foley's vocals. Her debut album '' Night Out'' was released in 1979; the album's single "What's a Matter Baby" reached No. 7 in the Dutch charts and No. 92 on the US charts. The single "We Belong To The Night" reached No.1 in the Netherlands. The album itself, which peaked at No. 152, was produced by Ian Hunter and

Mick Ronson Michael Ronson (26 May 1946 – 29 April 1993) was an English musician, songwriter, arranger, and producer. He achieved critical and commercial success working with David Bowie as the guitarist of the Spiders from Mars. He was a session musici ...

. Foley recorded a duet with Ian Hunter in 1980, "We Gotta Get Outta Here". Her creative relationship with Hunter also led her to singing backing vocals on the

Iron City Houserockers The Iron City Houserockers were an American rock band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, led by the singer and guitarist Joe Grushecky, from 1976 to 1984. History Started in 1976 as the Brick Alley Band by Grushecky, a high school special education ...

' 1980 album '' Have a Good Time But Get Out Alive!'', produced by Hunter, Ronson, and

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Steven Van Zandt Steven Van Zandt (né Lento; born November 22, 1950), also known as Little Steven or Miami Steve, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and actor. He is a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, in which he plays guitar and mandoli ...

. She also sings in the title cut of the 1979

Blue Öyster Cult Blue Öyster Cult ( ; sometimes abbreviated BÖC or BOC) is an American rock band formed on Long Island in Stony Brook, New York, in 1967, and best known for the singles "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", "Burnin' for You", and "Godzilla". The band h ...

album '' Mirrors'' and on

The Clash The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the w ...

album ''

Sandinista! ''Sandinista!'' is the fourth studio album by the English punk rock band the Clash. It was released on 12 December 1980 as a triple album containing 36 tracks, with 6 songs on each side. It crosses various genres including funk, reggae, jazz, ...

'' (released in 1980) in the songs "

Hitsville UK "Hitsville U.K." is a song by the English punk rock band the Clash from their 1980 album ''Sandinista!''. A duet between lead guitarist Mick Jones and his then-girlfriend Ellen Foley, it is the second single released from the album. Compositi ...

" and "Corner Soul", and on the unreleased track "Blonde Rock 'n' Roll". In 1981, all four members of The Clash appeared on her second album, ''The Spirit of St. Louis'', and Mick Jones and

Joe Strummer John Graham Mellor (21 August 1952 – 22 December 2002), known professionally as Joe Strummer, was a British singer, musician and songwriter. He was the co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist and co-lead vocalist of punk rock band the Clash, f ...

co-wrote a number of songs for the album. Jones produced the album, which also featured members of The Blockheads and peaked at No. 137 on the US charts. In 1982, she provided backing vocals on The Clash's song "Car Jamming" from the album ''

Combat Rock ''Combat Rock'' is the fifth studio album by the English rock band the Clash. It was released on 14 May 1982 through CBS Records. In the United Kingdom, the album charted at number 2, spending 23 weeks in the UK charts and peaked at number 7 i ...

''. The Clash's hit song " Should I Stay or Should I Go", written and sung by Jones, was about the turbulent relationship he shared with Foley at the time. She released her third solo album ''Another Breath'' in 1983; it failed to chart. In 1984, she sang backing vocals on Joe Jackson's album '' Body & Soul'' and had a large role in the music video for Utopia's "Crybaby". Foley was one of four female vocalists to front the group

Pandora's Box Pandora's box is an artifact in Greek mythology connected with the myth of Pandora in Hesiod's c. 700 B.C. poem ''Works and Days''. Hesiod reported that curiosity led her to open a container left in the care of her husband, thus releasing physi ...

, formed by

Jim Steinman James Richard Steinman (November 1, 1947 – April 19, 2021) was an American composer, lyricist and record producer. He also worked as an arranger, pianist, and singer. His work included songs in the adult contemporary, rock, dance, pop, mus ...

in the late 1980s. Their album ''

Original Sin Original sin is the Christian doctrine that holds that humans, through the fact of birth, inherit a tainted nature in need of regeneration and a proclivity to sinful conduct. The biblical basis for the belief is generally found in Genesis 3 ...

'', released in 1989, was the first to feature the song "

It's All Coming Back to Me Now "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" is a power ballad written by Jim Steinman. According to Steinman, the song was inspired by ''Wuthering Heights'', and was an attempt to write "the most passionate, romantic song" he could ever create. ''The Sunda ...

" (vocals by Elaine Caswell); both

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion ( ; born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals, Dion is the best-selling Canadian recording artist, and the best-selling French-language artist of all time. Her ...

and a duet between Meat Loaf and Marion Raven had separate chart successes with that song in some countries, years later.

Broadway, film and television

Foley studied acting at

HB Studio The HB Studio (Herbert Berghof Studio) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization offering professional training in the performing arts through classes, workshops, free lectures, theater productions, theater rentals, a theater artist residency progra ...

in New York City. She has appeared on Broadway in such shows as '' Me and My Girl'' and the revival of ''

Hair Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and fi ...

'', and off-Broadway in ''

Beehive A beehive is an enclosed structure in which some honey bee species of the subgenus '' Apis'' live and raise their young. Though the word ''beehive'' is commonly used to describe the nest of any bee colony, scientific and professional literature ...

''. Foley originated the role of The Witch in

Stephen Sondheim Stephen Joshua Sondheim (; March 22, 1930November 26, 2021) was an American composer and lyricist. One of the most important figures in twentieth-century musical theater, Sondheim is credited for having "reinvented the American musical" with sho ...

's ''

Into the Woods ''Into the Woods'' is a 1987 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. The musical intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm fairy tales, exploring the consequences of the characters' wishes and quests. T ...

'' at the

Old Globe Theater The Old Globe is a professional theatre company located in Balboa Park in San Diego, California. It produces about 15 plays and musicals annually in summer and winter seasons. Plays are performed in three separate theatres in the complex, which i ...

in San Diego, but was replaced by Bernadette Peters before the musical opened on Broadway."'Into the Woods', 1986 Old Globe Production and 1987 Broadway Production"
SondheimgGide.com, accessed August 2, 2012. Foley eventually played the role on Broadway from August 1, 1989 until the show's closing on September 3, 1989. Her best known television acting role is that of Billie Young on '' Night Court'' for season two (1984–85), after which she was succeeded by

Markie Post Marky or Markie may refer to: Nickname * Marky Cielo (1988–2008), Filipino actor and dancer * Marky Delgado (born 1995), American soccer player * Markie Mark (born 1974), BBC Radio director * Marky Markowitz (1923–1986), American jazz trumpete ...

as Christine Sullivan, who had been Reinhold Weege's first choice for the public defender part, but Post had been unavailable while under contract on the television series ''

The Fall Guy ''The Fall Guy'' is an American action/adventure television series produced for ABC and originally broadcast from November 4, 1981, to May 2, 1986. It starred Lee Majors, Douglas Barr, and Heather Thomas as Hollywood stunt performers who mo ...

'' on ABC. Foley was reportedly let go from the series because producers felt her relationship with star

Harry Anderson Harry Laverne Anderson (October 14, 1952 – April 16, 2018) was an American actor, comedian and magician. He is best known for his role of Judge Harry Stone on the 1984–1992 television series ''Night Court''. He later starred in the si ...

was more like that of a brother and sister than as potential paramours. She had roles in

Miloš Forman Jan Tomáš "Miloš" Forman (; ; 18 February 1932 – 13 April 2018) was a Czech and American film director, screenwriter, actor, and professor who rose to fame in his native Czechoslovakia before emigrating to the United States in 1968. Forman ...

's film adaptation of the stage musical ''

'' (1979), as well as in the movies ''

Fatal Attraction ''Fatal Attraction'' is a 1987 American psychological thriller film directed by Adrian Lyne from a screenplay by James Dearden, based on his 1980 short film '' Diversion''. Starring Michael Douglas, Glenn Close, and Anne Archer, the film cent ...

'' (1987), ''

Married to the Mob ''Married to the Mob'' is a 1988 American crime comedy film directed by Jonathan Demme, and starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Matthew Modine, Dean Stockwell, Mercedes Ruehl, and Alec Baldwin. Pfeiffer plays Angela de Marco, a gangster's widow from B ...

'' (1988) and ''

Cocktail A cocktail is an alcoholic mixed drink. Most commonly, cocktails are either a combination of spirits, or one or more spirits mixed with other ingredients such as tonic water, fruit juice, flavored syrup, or cream. Cocktails vary widely acr ...

'' (1988). Foley was also in the short-lived 1977 series ''

3 Girls 3 ''3 Girls 3'' is a 1977 American variety television show that ran for four episodes on the NBC network, starring Debbie Allen, Ellen Foley, and Mimi Kennedy.O'Connor, John J. (30 March 1977)TV: It's Instant Stardom for '3 Girls 3' ''The New York T ...

'', co-starring with

Debbie Allen Deborah Kaye Allen (born January 16, 1950) is an American actress, dancer, choreographer, singer-songwriter, director, producer, and a former member of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities. She has been nominated 20 times for an ...

and Mimi Kennedy.

Other pursuits

As of the mid-2000s, she teaches voice at The Paul Green School of Rock Music in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Personal life

In 1990, Foley married writer Doug Bernstein, co-author of the Off-Broadway revue ''Showing Off''.

Filmography

Discography

Studio albums

* '' Night Out'' (1979) Epic - L #1; UK #68; AU #13/small> * '' Spirit of St. Louis'' (1981) Epic - L #35; UK #57; AU #61/small> * '' Another Breath'' (1983) Epic * ''About Time'' (2013) *Fighting Words ( 2021 ) Note: all of these were issued by Epic within the U.S. on vinyl LP. They have been reissued on Compact Disc by

Wounded Bird Records Wounded Bird Records is an American compact disc only re-issue record label that was founded in 1998 in Guilderland, New York. They re-release lesser known albums from popular and lesser known artists, including Paul Butterfield, Cactus, Herb ...

Compilations

* ''The Very Best of'' (1992)

Singles

* "We Belong to the Night" / "Young Lust" (1979) - U #15; NL #1; South Africa #7/small> * "What's a Matter Baby" / "Hideaway" (1979) L #7; US #92/small> * "Sad Song" / "Stupid Girl" (1980) * "Stupid Girl" / "Young Lust" (1980) * "The Shuttered Palace" / "Beautiful Waste of Time" (1981) - U #48/small> * "Torchlight" / "Game of a Man" (1981) * "Torchlight" / "Le palais" (1981) * "Boys in the Attic" / "Beat of a Broken Heart" (1983) * "Nightline (Single Version)" / "Beat of a Broken Heart (1983) * "Nightline (Dance Mix - Long Version)" / "Nightline (Dance Mix - Short Version)" "Nightline (Dub)" 2" Maxi-Single* "Heaven Can Wait" (2015)

With Pandora's Box

* ''

'' (1989)

Guest appearances

* " Paradise by the Dashboard Light" (1977) (from '' Bat Out of Hell'' by Meat Loaf) * "Mirrors" (1979) (from '' Mirrors'' by

) * "Hitsville U.K.", "Corner Soul", "Washington Bullets" and "Blonde Rock 'n' Roll" (1980) (from ''

'' by

) * "We Gotta Get Out of Here" (1980) (from '' Welcome to the Club'' by Ian Hunter) * "Car Jamming" (1982) (from ''

'' by The Clash) * '' Body and Soul'' (1984) (by Joe Jackson)

References

External links

The Ellen Foley Webzine
* *

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Foley, Ellen 1951 births Living people Actresses from St. Louis American film actresses American musical theatre actresses American television actresses American women rock singers Epic Records artists Musicians from St. Louis Webster University alumni 21st-century American women