the Love Affair biography

PART THREE: Having scored a UK #1 hit with their first single for CBS in February 1968, the Love Affair were attacked by critics (and banned by some TV stations) for admitting to not play on the record, although they did play on the B-side. Their next singles followed a similar pattern, and they all reached the top 20 charts. With Amen Corner, Marmelade and the Tremoloes, they were undoubtedly the giants of the 1968-1969 pop scene. Part Three of the biography covers the period from 1976 to 2005.

Maurice and Barry Collings put together a new Love Affair line-up in 1976, with Martin Lyon on vocals, Chris North (drums), Ian Henderson (bass) and Bob Banasiak on guitar. Bob Banasiak was in the band Fancy with Nigel Benjamin in the early 70s (Benjamin, of course left to form Mott with Morgan Fisher). Fancy released one single called 'Starlord', of which 1200 copies were pressed and sold locally. Bob Banasiak left Fancy to join Angel, the UK band managed by Mick Tucker and Andy Scott from Sweet. Bob was with them for a year and played on the band's second single, "Little Boy Blue" b/w "Tragedy Queen". Apparently, "Little Boy Blue" was later reworked by Sweet and given the title "Fox On The Run".

Chris North left the band to join Enid in 1980 and stayed with them for three years, but he would return every now and then. Explains Bob Banasiak*: "I don't know how much you know about British pop rock culture, but there was a band called The Enid. They were really underground, really classical rock. They had a keyboard player and composer Rob Godfrey who was amazing. Chris North stayed with them for three years. They had a house in the north of London - no, Sussex, I think it was - and the Pink Floyds used to keep their equipment there. It was a big huge mansion and recording studio, and the deal was that The Enid could use their equipment on tour and for rehearsing and recording. Chris and Ian - we all loved to party, but they took it too far. That's where Kevin [Morris] and Phil [Mitchell] came in. The funny thing is, they were with us for a little while, and then Chris and Ian came back. They would alternate. If somebody felt like doing a tour, they would go. And when Ian Gibbons wasn't doing gigs with The Kinks, he would tour with us."

Phil Mitchell was also a former member of Fancy. When Bob left them, Fancy became The Billion Dollar Band, which featured Nigel, Phil and Kevin Morris - and then Royce. Royce broke up when Nigel Benjamin joined Mott - but they reformed as English Assassin in 1978, when Nigel returned and recruited Ian Gibbons on keyboards and Jerry Stevenson on guitar. Over the next few years, all members of English Assassin except Nigel Benjamin joined Bob Banasiac and Martin Lyon in the Love Affair.

Bob Banasiak*: "We had a single on the Creole label in 1977, which was a subsidiary of CBS. Even Tony Blackburn, who was a Radio One DJ, was playing it. But it had limited success because it wasn't really pushed. We had the whole works - Philip Goodhand-Tait, the guy who helped write the Love Affair hits, he wrote this particularly for us. It was called 'Private Lives'. I thought it was a magnificent piece of work, I mean we had everybody on there - the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Ladybirds from the Benny Hill Show - you name them, they were on it! But it fell flat on its face, sad to say. They spent eighteen thousand pounds on it, and that was a lot of money in those days for a band that was a 'has-been'. So we thought it was going to happen. We later went to Denmark and recorded an album. It was recorded at Puk Studios. Phil [Mitchell] came, but Ian [Gibbons] didn't. Chris North was playing drums. I think it was probably 1979 or 1980. Nothing was really done with it, it was shelved. I thought it was pretty good, myself. But you know, there were too many people trying to make money out of us, rather than push us. They were living on the name. And it sucked, because we were a great live show. What can you be, if you're playing every night year in and year out? You get good!" (this is the album that ended up being "Just One Drink" - Sven).

Bob Banasiak stayed with the band until March 1983, when he left for the States. He was replaced by Rufus Ruffell. Maurice Bacon was still managing the band at this point, and stated in a 1983 interview that "There's still a Love Affair though - and Martin Lyon, who's the singer with the band now, is the all-time longest surviving member. He's been with Love Affair for over nine years - while people like myself and Steve were only with the band for three or four years. Me - I'm still running the original management company that we had. But we also do records, run an agency and we're also into films. It's become a kind of Bacon empire!"

Phil Mitchell and Kevin Morris left the band in 1983 as well - they both joined Dr. Feelgood.

The band recorded a cassette only album around 1983 entitled "The New Recordings" - it was a mix of Love Affair classics and other artists songs. The line-up at the time of recording was Martin Lyon (vocals), Rufus Ruffell (guitar/vocals), Phil Mitchell (bass/vocals), Chris North (drums) and Ian Gibbons (keyboards). The band also recorded a cassette only album in 1985 entitled "Greatest Hits" - this also mixed Love Affair hits and other songs from the same period. While the original cassette pictured Martin Lyon's Love Affair on the cover, later CD re-issues used a photo of the original band instead.

(*) excerpts from Justin Purington's interview with Bob Banasiak reprinted by permission.

postscript

• Martin Lyon's Love Affair fronted the band on the club and cabaret circuit thoughout the 90s and until 2006, but the line-ups during this period is not known. Nigel Carter played in a band who supported the Love Affair in early 1998: "We were booked to play as support to them at a club in Wells, Somerset. As we were another sixties group, Martin was pleased as his normal support consisted mainly of uncomplimentary DJ's with no concept of sixties music at all. The band then was a five-piece outfit with Martin on Lead Vocals, a guitarist called Adam, another guitarist who also played keyboards and whose name I didn't get. Bass duties were handled by Russ who I think used to play for UK group Eddie and the Hot Rods, but don't quote me on that. Drums were admirably played by John Skelton who has sponsorship from major drum companies and was considered as a replacement for Cozy Powell after his untimely death."
  
  
• Rufus Ruffell has been playing with Niki Dean and the Rubettes.
  
  
• Phil Mitchell and Kevin Morris still play with Dr. Feelgood.
  
  
• Ian Gibbons now plays with Ian Hunter.
  
  [UPDATE January 2008] Ted Tomlin (guitar) played with LOVE AFFAIR for many years and he was on "The Witch Queen of New Orleans" single. He also did a stint with Brian Connolly in BC Sweet, he worked with Denny Laine from the MOODY BLUES and WINGS and has done sessions with various other people. In 2007 he teamed up again with Martin Lyon in the band The Hitmen.