Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel

Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel were an English rock band from the early 1970s. Their music covers a range of styles from pop to progressive rock, and while they were contemporary with the glam rock period, their music is not truly classifiable as such. Indeed, many feel that Harley and the band might have been more successful if they had begun their careers earlier, and had not been eclipsed by the glam rock bandwagon.

Steve Harley was born as Steven Nice, on February 27, 1951 in South London, growing up in New Cross and attended the school Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham College. He began his musical career as a soloist in the legendary Beckenham Arts Lab founded by David Bowie. Here, he was busking (with John Crocker) and performing his own songs, some of which were later recorded by him and the band. The original Cockney Rebel was formed when Steve hooked up with his former folk partner, John Crocker (fiddle / mandolin / guitar) in 1972. They auditioned drummer Stuart Elliott, bassist Paul Jeffreys, and keyboardist Milton Reame-James. They were signed to EMI after playing just five gigs. Their first single "Sebastian", a soaring rock epic, was an immediate success in Europe, though failed to score in the UK singles chart. Their first album, The Human Menagerie, was released in 1973 to critical acclaim, and is still felt by many fans to be their best.

Harley managed to irritate a significant segment of the music press with his self-aggrandisement, even as the music itself was getting rave reviews and gaining a wide audience. It was becoming clear that Harley regarded the band as little more than accompaniment to his own agenda, and already there were signs that things would not last, despite having a big hit with their second single, "Judy Teen". There then followed the album The Psychomodo, an adventurous and ambitious production which showed that there was real talent in the group. A second single from the album, "Mr. Soft", was also a big hit. The band was voted the 'Most Outstanding New Act' of 1974. By this time the problems within the band had already reached a head, and all the musicians, with the exception of Stuart Elliott, quit at the end of a highly successful UK tour.

Steve's next appearance on Top of the Pops was supported by session musicians drafted in for the show.

From then on, the band was a band in name only, being more or less a Steve Harley solo project. In 1974, a further album, The Best Years Of Our Lives was made, produced by Beatles recording engineer, Alan Parsons. This included the track "Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me)" which would go on to be a UK Number One single and the band's biggest selling hit. In a television interview recorded in 2002, Steve Harley described how the lyrics are vindictively directed at the former band members, whom he felt had abandoned him - a fact which eludes a majority of listeners who enjoy the apparently happy chorus.

From then on, Steve Harley struggled to match that success, and he faded away, although he provided vocals on The Alan Parsons Project song, The Voice on 1977's I Robot. He made a minor comeback in 1979 as a solo artist in the UK singles chart with the Tamla Motown-inspired "Freedom's Prisoner", which bubbled under the UK Top 50. After a brief appearance in the 1980s with a song from Andrew Lloyd-Webber's 'The Phantom Of The Opera', Steve began touring again with his old Cockney Rebel songs in the late 80s and 90s.

He has released several solo albums since - Yes You Can in 1992, Poetic Justice in 1996, and most recently, The Quality of Mercy in 2005, the first since the 70s to be released with the Cockney Rebel name, dubbing his current touring band (which includes the original drummer, Stuart Elliott) Cockney Rebel Mark III.

During the 1990s, Mr Soft was used on the TV advertisement for Trebor Softmints in the UK.

Harley has presented a popular show on BBC Radio 2, called The Sounds of the Seventies, since 1999.

Cockney Rebel Band Personnel

* John Crocker - violin / mandolin / guitar - 1972 - 1974
* Paul Avron Jeffreys - born on 13 February 1952 - bass - 1973 - 1974 - died on 21 December 1988 in the Lockerbie air disaster
* Milton Reame-James - keyboards - 1973 - 1974
* Stuart Elliot - drums - 1973 - 1977
* Jim Cregan - born on 9 March 1946, in Yeovil, Somerset - guitarist - 1975 - 1977
* Duncan MacKay - born on 2 July 1950, in Leeds, Yorkshire - keyboards - 1975 - 1977
* George Ford - bass - 1975 - 1977

UK Discography

Singles

* "Sebastian" - 1973
* "Judy Teen" - 1974 - Number 5
* "Mr. Soft" - 1974 - Number 8
* "Big Big Deal" - 1974
* "Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me)" - 1975 - Number 1
* "Mr. Raffles (Man It Was Mean)" - 1975 - Number 13
* "Black Or White" - 1975
* "White White Dove" - 1976
* "Here Comes The Sun" - 1976 - Number 10
* "(I Believe) Love's A Prima Donna" - 1976 - Number 41
* "The Best Years Of Our Lives" (live) - 1977
* "Freedom's Prisoner" - 1979 - Number 58
* "Ballerina (Prima Donna)" - 1983 - Number 51
* "The Phantom Of The Opera" - 1986 - Number 7
* "Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me)" - re-issue - 1992 - Number 46
* "Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me)" - 2nd re-issue - 1995 - Number 33

Albums

Cockney Rebel:

* The Human Menagerie - 1973
* The Psychomodo - 1974 - Number 8

Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel:

* The Best Years Of Our Lives - 1975 - Number 4
* Timeless Flight - 1976 - Number 18
* Love's A Prima Donna - 1976 - Number 28
* Face To Face - A Live Recording - 1977 - Number 40

Steve Harley:

* Hobo With A Grin - 1978
* The Candidate - 1979
* Yes You Can - 1992
* Poetic Justice - 1996

Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel:

* The Quality of Mercy - 2005

References

British Hit Albums - 7th Edition - ISBN 0-85112-619-7

British Hit Singles - 16th Edition - ISBN 085112-190-X

The Book Of Golden Discs - 2nd Edition - ISBN 0-214-20512-6

The Great Rock Discography - 5th Edition - ISBN 1-84195-017-3

Guinness Rockopedia - ISBN 0-85112-072-5

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