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Steve Harley dies aged 73

1951-2024

By Paul Sinclair

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31

Cockney Rebel frontman Steve Harley has died of cancer, it has been announced.

London-born Harley formed formed Cockney Rebel in the early 1970s. The band – consisting of Harley, Jean-Paul Crocker, drummer Stuart Elliott, bassist Paul Jeffreys and guitarist Nick Jones – released two albums, The Human Menagerie (1973) and The Psychomodo (1974).

The band fell apart but was rebuilt by Harley as ‘Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel’ with Stuart Elliott the only musician remaining from the original line up. The first album under this new moniker was The Best Years of Our Lives (1975) which featured the song that Harley is best known for, the UK chart topper ‘Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)’. The band recorded just two more albums and had two further top 20 singles before calling it a day in 1977, when Harley embarked on a solo career. Steve would occasionally put together new line-ups of Cockney Rebel in later years for touring purposes, but 2005’s The Quality of Mercy was the only other studio album to bear the name.

Harley’s last brush with the UK top 10 was in 1986 with ‘The Phantom of the Opera’, a duet with Sarah Brightman. Harley was all set to play the role in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical but after five months of rehearsal he was replaced by Michael Crawford.

In later years there were plenty of successful tours, well-received albums and reissues but the commercial success of the 1970s was never repeated.

Rest in Peace, Steve Harley.

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31 Comments

31 thoughts on “Steve Harley dies aged 73”

  1. I just needed to google it: Make me smile was penned in 1975 and Chicago did a song called Make me smile back in 1970. Oh the beauty of not knowing. I think I only know Sebastian from so called Soft Rock sampler records. Always something new to learn. RIP.

  2. Mr Harley certainly made me smile, Cockney Rebel, Bowie an T Rex got me into wearing ladies blouses. It was a phase lol. His cover of Here Comes The Sun, dare I say, is better than The Beatles original.

  3. The image you used of Anthology is a nice selection that covers a lot of Rebel/Harley&Rebel/Harley.The other essential/relevant selection is Cavaliers – the closest Rebel have come to an SDE.It contains the first 2 albums, plus their singles, versions on the third disc and BBC sessions on the fourth.
    Rebel/Harley deserve MORE!
    The next three albums were also fantastic and SH could write some great, moving songs.
    Love’s a prima donna, not a perfect album like any of them, was the soundtrack to part of my life. I remember driving home singing If this is love at the top of my voice the first evening I had with my future wife. And as someone else said, Love (compared to you) is a beautiful love song, and a song I sang to my love and was used at our wedding.
    BUT, they deserve more – there must be enough tracks to do SDEs of the other albums. I can see that the SH later albums (post CR) were a bit naff and trying for success (the last disc and a half of Anthology – t there are some great songs – but not quite the same impact).
    The initial slow Come Up has been discussed for years – it must be on tape somewhere. Plus other demos, work throughs). We have probably done the best of the live material – Face to face is fantastic – but they may be able to find something else (though there do seem to be a few about.
    Oh but it’s tragic, but it’s the best years of our lives (goes through my head so often) – there must be some true SDEs about!
    Otherwise I’ll go back to the farm.
    (what is a blue orange?)

  4. I was just 10 years old when I purchased the ‘Sebastian’ single. That song played extensively on Belgian radio and hit number one in French Belgium (it didn’t hit the charts in the UK at all but also reached nbr 2 in the Netherlands). It was so avant-garde, innovative and wonderful. Maybe just not enough standard for UK radio stations. Then bought Judy Teen, Psychomodo and Make Me Smile. In the last few years I’ve been buying rereleased albums on vinyl (mainly from Music on Vinyl). Never saw him live but Cockney Rebel was an important part of my childhood and I’m really affected by his departure.

  5. The thing is guys-or girls-of my age (mid 60’s) see our favourite artists frozen in time.
    When I think of Steve I’m back at school aged 15 listening to Radio 1 at 1o’clock Tuesday and the brand new top 30.
    Pilot displaced from the top by Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me).On Thursday evening there’s Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel performing their number 1 hit.
    That performance is now 49 years old and it is still being aired.
    Of course there was more-much more-to Steve than that one song.
    My all time favourite album has to be Timeless Flight.
    From the cream coloured gatefold sleeve to the short essay inside the gatefold- The Hill and Hibiscus Flowers-to the 9 great tracks (personal favourite Red is a Mean Mean Colour).
    And it was Steve who got me into Zappa back in 1999 when he hosted Sounds of the Seventies on Radio 2.
    He played Stinkfoot!
    I only saw Steve and his band once that was back in 2006 at Brighton Dome.
    Absolutely fantastic!
    Coming out of the gig I had to have the 3CD Anthology.
    I bought it there and then thanks to a loan from my other half!
    Steve RIP.And thanks for the wonderful back catalogue.

  6. RIP Steve Harley
    Not a major fan, but Make Me Smile is an undying classic that will live on forever. So many people leaving us recently, but I guess that’s the way time works….

  7. The name was familiar so I looked at his discography; Heartbeat Like Thunder, that’s why his name sounded familiar. This song is 80s gold. A real treasure.

  8. I had the pleasure of working for him doing FOH sound on many tours, a very talented guy, but more importantly a genuinely lovely person.
    R. I. P. Mr Soft.

  9. A bit bloody devastated I am. He was brilliant. Too smart for the masses of course. And you’d think – watching the news – Make Me Smile was the only bloody song he wrote (great as it is).
    The Best Years of Our Lives is a remarkable album – one I still play regularly. Listen to it’s lyrics. Dark and twisted and delicious. Mr Raffles – in my opinion – even better than MMS – all about slaying babies and shooting Spanish dancers. It Wasn’t Me – throwing kittens on the fire and eating homing pigeons. 49th Parallel – slitting vulture’s veins and tying them up with guitar strings. I was a bullied and abused 14 year old budding misanthropist when I bought it – and Harley’s gleeful contempt compelled me greatly.
    That album’s follow ups we’re almost a good – Timeless Flight’s Red is a Mean Mean Colour – one of many highlight s – and on Love’s a Prima Donna – instead of listening to Here Comes The Sun (again – great as it is) listen to (Love) Compared With You. It is beautiful beyond belief and certainly one of the greatest love songs never heard.
    And what can be said about Sebastian? Gloriously grandiose and dramatic. A masterpiece – and in my mind all about a man doing someone in – simply because they called him Sebastian. Bloody fantastic.
    I saw him live a number of times over many years and he never disappointed. He was a true one off and star.
    62 years old I am now. Gonna put my headphones on and play The Best Years of Our Lives – and sob.

  10. I saw Steve perform a few years ago at pizza express, along side Mike Garson and Marc Almond, at a Bowie tribute. Simon Westbrook was the amazing main vocalist. Judy Teen was an absolute classic. I read somewhere that Come Up And See Me was “inspired by” a Dylan song, I’ve never managed to figure out which one. A sad, sad, loss. But as we all get older, when someone in popular culture passes away, it’s more likely we will be affected.

  11. Extremely sad to hear of Steve Harley’s death. I could probably write a book about my memories of him ( don’t worry, I won’t ). Make Me Smile, for me, is the best pop song ever written. Timeless.
    As a student of photography in the early/mid nineties, I contacted Steve’s management to ask if he would agree for me to meet and take some photos for my portfolio. He agreed and I met him at a recording studio in Ardingly, Sussex where he was recording Poetic Justice. He was great to meet and I spent a few hours with him, chatting about this and that. We talked music (!) and he was saying how much he admired Karl Wallinger at that time. Very clever, he said.
    I was lucky enough to meet him on a couple of further occasions over the years and saw him live in concert many, many times.
    He was of average height and build, yet like many ‘stars’ his charisma and personality was incredibly strong and large and had a vice like grip handshake that I’m still feeling to this day.
    I’m sure Make Me Smile will be across all of the airwaves in the coming days. Not a bad thing. However, there was so much more to the man. The Human Menagerie and The Psychomodo were fantastic albums which, for me, knocked Roxy, Bowie and Bolan right out of the park.
    He was a true one off and will certainly be missed by me.
    RIP Steve.

  12. So sad , Steve was part of my teenage years. Will be giving Sebastian and the live version of Best Years Of Our Lives a spin tonight.
    Condolences to his family and friends.

  13. Ah this has upset me. I last saw Steve Harley at Exeter Phoenix in March 2019 – I had a front row seat and took a tranche of photos. Although I didn’t get the opportunity to meet Steve post gig, I did manage to get my CD copy of ‘Best Years of Our Lives’ signed by Steve. Steve played that night ‘Coast Of Amalfi’ which is one of my all time favourite songs. I loved when Steve did “Sounds of the Seventies” on BBC Radio 2 and his amazing back catalogue. RIP Steve x

  14. RIP Steve. The first Cockney Rebel album The Human Menagerie never gets enough love. From Hideaway to Death Trip via Sebastian and everything else, it’s as rock as it’s possible to get, whilst barely featuring any electric guitar.

    The original Cockney Rebel rhythm section went on to do a short stint in Be Bop Deluxe, too (albeit without recording anything).

  15. Very sad to hear this.
    He must’ve been gutted being bumped for Frank Spencer in Phantom Of The Opera after recording the lead single with Sarah Brightman and working for months in rehearsal. Thankfully we have got plenty of his own brilliant music to listen to.
    Like Ian Dury, Steve had polio as a youngster but you would never know it as he wasn’t as badly affected as Ian.
    RIP Mr Raffles

  17. In addition to the above, he’s linked to Alan Parsons – Andrew Powell, who would become the Alan Parsons Project arranger, did the magnificent score for “Sebastian”, Parsons would come on board after the debut as a producer, and Steve Harley memorably sings “The Voice” (aside from the vocoder line, which is Parsons) on The Alan Parsons Project’s I Robot. Also, Stuart Elliott from Cockney Rebel was the Project’s drummer from Pyramid onward and stayed with Parsons until 2000. Duncan Mackay also played on a few Project albums.

    RIP Steve.

  19. Devastating news. Steve’s music has been a big part of my life ever since the first Cockney Rebel album, he’s an understated artist if there ever is one. Never had the opportunity to see him live, but I do have all his albums ( many of them even in multiple formats… ), everyone worth repeated listening. I once purchased his book of on-line diaries from his website, he kindly signed it and added ”Hope to see you sometime in Finland”. Sadly it was not to be…

    RIP Steve, thank you for the music. It truly feels that you were a Friend for Life

  20. Saw Steve quite a few times in London and Belgium, where he was greatly loved, always a pleasure to see live. He will be greatly missed, another one from my youth gone …

  21. Very very sad reading that Steve died. For me his track Make me Smile is one of the best popsongs ever. It’s 100% perfect. Also loved Sebastian, especially the live version.
    RIP Steve, another hero of my youth

  23. Saw him and the band at Halifax Piece Hall in 1989, playing a benefit for the charity CARE Concert, for rainforests and elephants.

    The way I remember it, they stepped up to headline the event after John Martyn failed to show up, a no-show which I don’t think was ever explained. I spent part of the event chatting with a guy who’d flown in from Oz to hook up with JM who was supposed to be providing transport and accommodation for him. Who knows where he spent the night!

    Harley more than measured up to being headliner – a terrific performance that helped folk forget the no-show.

  25. Although ‘Make Me Smile’ gets the headlines, for me, ‘Sebastiane’ is absolutely sublime.
    RIP Mr Harley and thanks for the tunes.

  26. RIP.
    I first got to know him/the band when I heard the awesome rendition of Come Up and See Me by Duran Duran on the B-side of The Reflex.
    Time to wipe the dust off of their work and listen again.

    1. That was a great gig they were surfing the wave of success
      a no1 single brings .Steve had a red velvet suit and matching bowler hat
      if I remember .Roxy Bowie Harley in 75 .What a time to be alive .RIp
      Steve

  28. We were due to see him in Cromer at the end of the year and It’s so so sad to hear of his passing. A musician of immense ability who was at the forefront of all that was good in the music scene in the 70s. His work not only as the leader of Cockney Rebel but as a solo performer will always stand the test of time. Cheers Steve and thank you so so much

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