Ellen Foley

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Ellen Foley (born June 5, 1951 in St. Louis, Missouri) is an American singer and actress, who has appeared on Broadway and television, where she co-starred in the sitcom Night Court. In music, she has released three solo albums but is best known for her collaborations with the singer Meat Loaf.

Early career

Foley gained high public recognition singing the duet with Meat Loaf on the hit single "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" from the 1977 album Bat out of Hell. Although Karla DeVito is featured on the music video, DeVito is lip synching to Foley's vocals.

Her debut album Nightout with the hit single "What's a Matter Baby", was released in 1979. The album was produced by Ian Hunter and Mick Ronson.

Foley recorded a memorable 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' 1980 album Have a Good Time but Get out Alive!, produced by Hunter, Ronson, and The E Street Band's Steven Van Zandt.

She can also be heard on The Clash album Sandinista!, released in 1980, in the song "Hitsville UK" and on the unreleased track "Blonde Rock 'n' Roll". All four members of The Clash appeared on her second album The Spirit of St. Louis in 1981, and Mick Jones and Joe Strummer co-wrote a number of songs for the album.^[1] Jones also produced the album, which also featured members of The Blockheads.^[1] 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.^[2]

She released her third and, until now, last solo album Another Breath in 1983.

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". She fronted the band Pandora's Box, formed by Jim Steinman in 1989. Their album Original Sin was the first to feature the song "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" (vocals by Elaine Caswell); both Meat Loaf and Celine Dion had separate chart successes with that song, years later.

Broadway, film and television

Foley lives in the Upper West Side of Manhattan and continues an active career in music and has appeared on Broadway in such shows as Me and My Girl and the revival of Hair and off-Broadway in Beehive. She originated the role of The Witch in Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods at the Old Globe Theater in San Diego but was replaced by Bernadette Peters before the play reached New York. She eventually reprised the role by appearing on Broadway herself.

Her best known television acting role is the role of Billie Young on Night Court for one season (1984-85), after which she was succeeded by Markie Post as Christine Sullivan. She had parts in Miloš Forman's 1979 film adaptation of the stage musical Hair, as well as the films Cocktail, Fatal Attraction and Married to the Mob.

She was also in the short-lived 1977 show 3 Girls 3, co-starring with Debbie Allen and Mimi Kennedy.

Personal life

Foley is married to the writer Doug Bernstein. The couple live in Manhattan with their two sons, Timothy and Henry. As of the mid-2000s, she teaches vocal lessons at The Paul Green School of Rock Music in Manhattan, New York City, New York.

References

External links

• Ellen Foley at the Internet Movie Database
• Ellen Foley at the Internet Broadway Database
• Information page and discography