Ellen Foley

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Ellen Foley (2014)

Ellen Foley (born June 5, 1951 in St. Louis , Missouri ) is an American singer and actress .

biography

Even her debut album Nightout brought Ellen Foley her greatest musical solo success in 1979. The music was very reminiscent of the classic pop and rock music of the girl groups of the 1960s, especially Phil Spector's Wall of Sound . The record was produced by Ian Hunter and Mick Ronson . Her following solo albums were Spirit of St. Louis (1981) and Another Breath (1983).

However, she had her greatest successes in working with other musicians. She was Meat Loaf's counterpart in the duet Paradise by the Dashboard Light (1977) from the album Bat out of Hell .

In 1980 she sang on the album Sandinista! from The Clash the duet Hitsville UK . The band returned the favor and took part in their solo album Spirit of St. Louis . Mick Jones and Joe Strummer also co-wrote some of the songs on the album. From this apparently not always smooth, but creative collaboration, the later hit Should I Stay or Should I Go by The Clash resulted . Ellen Foley apparently had an affair with the song's writer and singer, Mick Jones. In 1984 she sang on Joe Jackson's album Body and Soul . In 1989 she was one of the members of the female "bombast rock" band Pandora's Box, formed by Jim Steinman .

Foley has appeared in Broadway productions several times, such as Me and My Girl and the remake of Hair . There is also the off-Broadway production in Beehive . In Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods at the Old Globe Theater in San Diego , she was initially given the role of the witch, but was replaced by Bernadette Peters before the play came to New York .

Foley's best-known television work is the role of public defender Billy Young in the sitcom Harry's Miraculous Criminal Court , which she impersonated for one season in 1984/85. She was then replaced by Markie Post , who the producers had intended for the role from the start, but which had not yet been available for contractual reasons. She also appeared in several of Miloš Forman's films in small but memorable roles. So she played in the film adaptation of Hair . She also starred in films by other directors, such as Cocktail , A Fateful Affair and The Mafiosi Bride . She was last seen in the film Fate Encounter .

Ellen Foley is married to the author Doug Bernstein, with whom she lives in Manhattan .

Discography

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
Nightout
  DE 31 04/07/1980 (7 weeks)
  UK 68 11/17/1979 (1 week)
  US 137 29.09.1979 (6 weeks)
Spirit of St. Louis
  UK 57 04/04/1981 (2 weeks)
  US 152 04/04/1981 (4 weeks)
Singles
What's a matter baby
  AT 8th 05/15/1980 (4 weeks)
  US 92 11/17/1979 (4 weeks)

Albums

  • 1979: Nightout
  • 1981: Spirit of St. Louis
  • 1983: Another Breath
  • 1992: The Very Best Of
  • 2004: Meat Loaf and Friends (with Meat Loaf , Bonnie Tyler and Jim Steinman )
  • 2013 About Time

Singles

  • 1979: Stupid Girl
  • 1979: What's a Matter Baby
  • 1979: We Belong to the Night
  • 1979: Stupid Girl
  • 1980: Sad Song
  • 1981: The Shuttered Palace (Sons of Europe)
  • 1981: Torchlight
  • 1983: Nightline
  • 1983: Johnny and Mary
  • 1983: Boys in the Attic

Filmography

Single receipts

  1. ↑ a b Chart sources: DE AT UK US
  2. ^ The Billboard Albums by Joel Whitburn , 6th Edition, Record Research 2006, ISBN 0-89820-166-7

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Foley, Ellen
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American singer and actress
DATE OF BIRTH 5th June 1951
PLACE OF BIRTH St. Louis , Missouri , United States