Oh I got my private key from Bitpay but Electrum wont accept it. I will try your method above though - tried it, it asked for my phrase which I provided and it kicked out the same private key I already have and electrum still will not accept it. So, is my account hinged on the single aspect of signing a transaction?? I understand the usefulness of this aspect but my current wallet does not allow for signing and my knowledge about importing private keys to another wallet is obviously lacking.