Lance Ellington (born 22 June 1957) is an English singer, songwriter and actor. Ellington, the only son of the band leader Ray Ellington, specialises in swing and big ballads. He has worked with many artists including Sting,

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. Regarded as a pop culture icon, he is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling rec ...

Gloria Gaynor Gloria Fowles (born September 7, 1943), known professionally as Gloria Gaynor, is an American singer, best known for the disco era hits "I Will Survive" (1978), "I Have a Right, Let Me Know (I Have a Right)" (1979), "I Am What I Am (Broadway mus ...

, Steps ,

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

and

Robbie Williams Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, launching a solo career in 1996. His debut studio album, ''Life thru a Lens'', was re ...

, and currently makes regular performances on the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

programme ''

Strictly Come Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (commonly referred to as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly Ballroom dance, ballroom and Latin dance, Latin dance. Each couple is ...

''.

Career

After leaving school, Ellington entered and won the 1977 final of the television talent show ''

New Faces ''New Faces'' is a British television talent show that aired in the 1970s and 1980s. It has been hosted by Leslie Crowther, Derek Hobson and Marti Caine. It was produced for the ITV network by ATV, and later by Central. Original series: ...

'' as a member of the duo Koffee 'n' Kreme with singing partner Beth Hannah. He followed this with a tour with

Johnny Mathis John Royce Mathis (born September 30, 1935) is an American singer. Starting his 69-year career with singles of standard (music), standard music, Mathis is one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century and became highly popular as ...

and a performance in the Royal Variety Show. His career continued as a

session singer A session musician (also known as studio musician or backing musician) is a musician hired to perform in a recording session or a live performance. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a record ...

with many top artists and working on several

albums An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

. He went on to sing "Love You Too" the main theme song for

Lee Van Cleef Clarence LeRoy Van Cleef Jr. (January 9, 1925 – December 16, 1989) was an American actor. He appeared in over 170 film and television roles in a career spanning nearly 40 years, but is best known as a star of spaghetti Westerns, particularly t ...

's last movie '' Thieves of Fortune'' (1988). In 1993 his single, "Lonely (Have We Lost Our Love)", peaked at number 57 in the UK Singles Chart. Ellington's solo career includes studio albums, stage and club appearances and writing songs for Steps and

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. In 2004, he appeared as his late father in the film ''

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'' and, in 1993, sang a duet with

Cathy Dennis Catherine Roseanne Dennis (born 25 March 1969)Gregory, Andy (2002) ''International Who's Who in Popular Music 2002'', Europa; , p. 133 is a British singer, songwriter and record producer. She was discovered as a teenager by music manager Simon F ...

on the soundtrack of '' Robin Hood: Men in Tights''. In 2012, Ellington was the resident vocalist on ''Strictly Come Dancing''. In the same year he featured with Mary Carewe as a soloist in the ''James Bond 50th Anniversary Gala Concert'', which was broadcast on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

and shown on BBC television in December 2012.

Personal life

Ellington has two daughters, Lauren and Lois who have both performed in West End productions.

Discography

Albums

*''Pleasure and Pain'' –

A&M Records A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and functions as a branch of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Interscope-Geffen-A&M. Established in 1962 by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, the label initially operated independent ...

(1990) *''Lessons in Love'' –

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(2005) *''There Comes A Time'' –

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(2007) *''Aspects of Ellington'' – Upbeat Recordings (2012)

Singles and EPs

*"Love Scared" – A&M Records (1990) *"Treat Me Right" – A&M Records (1990) *"Love Me More" – A&M Records (12") (1990) *"Don't Ever Leave Me Again" – A&M Records (12", Promo) (1990) *"I'm Falling Too" (12") – Club House featuring Lance Ellington – Media Records (1992) *"Lonely (Have We Lost Our Love)" –

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...

(1993) – UK No. 57 *"Gimme Love" – Media Records Ltd (1994) *"Gimme Love" / "Change The Way" (12") – Lance Ellington / Maria Short – Pro DJ International (1994) *"Lonely '96" – East Side Records (1996)

Miscellaneous

*EVO (15) featuring Lance Ellington – "Summer Beach" (CD promo) – Interscope Digital Distribution (2011) *He sang backing vocals on the song The Golden Boy recorded in 1987 for the album

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

with

Freddie Mercury Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara; 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a British singer and songwriter who achieved global fame as the lead vocalist and pianist of the rock band Queen (band), Queen. Regarded as one of the gre ...

and

Montserrat Caballé María de Montserrat Bibiana Concepción Caballé i Folch or Folc (12 April 1933 – 6 October 2018), also known as Montserrat Caballé (i Folch), was a Spanish operatic soprano from Catalonia. Widely considered to be one of the best sopranos ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellington, Lance 1957 births Living people English male singers English male film actors English male songwriters English session musicians English people of African-American descent English people of Russian-Jewish descent Singers from London People educated at Kingham Hill School Male actors from London