Ellen Foley is an American singer and actress who has appeared on Broadway and television, where she co-starred in the sitcomNight Court. In music, she has released four solo albums but is best known for her collaborations with rock singer Meat Loaf.
Early life and career
Foley was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of John and Virginia B. Foley. Foley attended Webster University. 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 in the music video, DeVito is lip synching 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 but was a minor hit on the US Charts, reaching No. 92. However the single "We Belong To The Night" went on to reach No.1 in the Netherlands. The album itself peaked at No. 152, and 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 1979 Blue Öyster Cult album Mirrors singing on the title cut, and also on The Clash album Sandinista!, in the songs "Hitsville UK" 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 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. 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, formed by Jim Steinman in the late 1980s. Their album Original Sin, released in 1989, was the first to feature the song "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" ; both Celine Dion 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 in New York City. She lives on 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 musical opened on Broadway. Foley did eventually play 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, after which she was succeeded by Markie Post as Christine Sullivan, who had always 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 on ABC. Foley was reportedly let go from the series because producers felt her relationship with star Harry Anderson was more like that of a brother and sister. She had roles in Miloš Forman's film adaptation of the stage musical Hair, as well as the films Fatal Attraction, Married to the Mob and Cocktail. She was also in the short-lived 1977 series 3 Girls 3, co-starring with Debbie Allen and Mimi Kennedy.
Personal life
In 1990, Foley married the writer Doug Bernstein, co-author of the Off-Broadway revue Showing Off and graduate of Amherst College. The couple lives in Manhattan with their two sons, Timothy and Henry. As of the mid-2000s, she teaches voice at The Paul Green School of Rock Music in Manhattan, New York City.
