Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel
Encyclopedia
Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel are an English
rock
band
from the early 1970s. Their music covers a range of styles from pop
to progressive rock
. Over the years they have had five album
s in the UK Albums Chart
and twelve singles
in the UK Singles Chart
.
grew up in London's New Cross
area and attended Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham College
. His musical career began in the late 1960s when he was busking
(with John Crocker aka Jean-Paul Crocker) and performing his own songs, some of which were later recorded
by him and the band. After an initial stint as a music journalist
, the original Cockney Rebel was formed when Harley hooked up with his former folk music
partner
, Crocker (fiddle
/ mandolin
/ guitar
) in 1972. Crocker had just finished a short stint with Trees
and they advertised and auditioned drummer
Stuart Elliott
, bassist
Paul Jeffreys
, and guitarist
Nick Jones. This line-up played one of the band's first gigs at The Roundhouse
in Chalk Farm
, London
on 23 July 1972 supporting The Jeff Beck Group
. Nick was soon replaced by guitarist
Pete Newnham but Steve felt that the Cockney Rebel sound did not need an electric guitar and they settled on the combination of Crocker's electric violin
and the Fender Rhodes piano of keyboardist
Milton Reame-James to share the lead. The band was signed to EMI
after playing five gig
s. Their first single, "Sebastian", was an immediate success in Europe
, although it failed to score in the UK Singles Chart. Their debut album, The Human Menagerie
, was released in 1973. Although not a commercial success they did attract a growing following in London
.
Harley managed to irritate a significant segment of the music press
with his self-aggrandisement, even as their music 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". In May 1974, the British music magazine, NME
reported that Cockney Rebel were to undertake their first British tour, with the highlight of the itinerary being a gig
at London's Victoria Palace Theatre
on 23 June. There then followed the album The Psychomodo
. A session for BBC Radio 1
disc jockey
John Peel
, subsequently released on the Live at the BBC album, offered up further evidence of the band's inventiveness. A second single from the album, "Mr. Soft", was also a hit. By this time the problems within the band had already reached a head, and all the musician
s, with the exception of Elliott, quit at the end of a successful UK
tour. Of his erstwhile bandmates, Crocker returned to his acoustic and bluegrass
roots to quietly hone his songwriting skills, recording and occasionally performing (with younger brother David) in The Crocker Brothers; whilst Jeffreys and Reame-James were briefly members of Be-Bop Deluxe, before forming their own band, Chartreuse, in 1976.
Harley's next appearance on BBC Television
's Top of the Pops
was supported by session musician
s drafted in for the show. Only Elliott remained from the original line-up, with Curved Air
's Francis Monkman
, and B. A. Robertson
completing the impromptu band. Autumn 1974 brought the release of the group's next single, "Big Big Deal", presumably a taster for their proposed third album. No sooner was the record
released, however, than it was withdrawn.
From then on, the band was a band in name only, being more or less a Harley solo
project. In 1974, a further album, The Best Years of Our Lives
was released, produced by The 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 in February 1975, and the band's biggest selling hit. It sold over one million copies globally. Amongst the backing vocalist
s on the act's only #1 was the future chart-topper, Tina Charles. Changing the band name from Cockney Rebel to Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel for the #1 hit, the degeneration was rapid. In a television interview recorded in 2002, Harley described how the lyrics
are vindictively directed at the former band members, whom he felt had abandoned him – a fact not obvious in the apparently happy chorus
.
One more single from the album, "Mr. Raffles (Man It Was Mean)" made the Top 20, but then Cockney Rebel disbanded. After 1975, Harley struggled to match that success and faded from fame, although he provided vocals
on The Alan Parsons Project
song, "The Voice" on 1977's I Robot
. Harley also had a surprise Top 10 in the summer of 1976 with a cover version
of "Here Comes the Sun
". He made a minor comeback in 1979 as a solo artist in the UK Singles Chart with "Freedom's Prisoner". After a brief appearance in the 1980s with a song from Andrew Lloyd Webber
's The Phantom of the Opera
, Harley began touring again with his old Cockney Rebel songs in the late 1980s and 1990s.
Cockney Rebel's original bassist, Paul Jeffreys, was one of those who died on Pan Am Flight 103
in 1988. He was with his bride on their honeymoon
.
In April 1990, Harley and several former members of Cockney Rebel Mark II reformed as Raffles United, and played four consecutive nights in a pub
in Sudbury, London
.
Harley 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 1970s to be released with the Cockney Rebel name. He has dubbed his current touring band 'Cockney Rebel Mark III' – although the band contains only two original members in Harley and Elliott.
Two of the bigger hits appeared in UK television advertisement
s in the 1990s: "Make Me Smile" for Carlsberg Lager in 1995, prompting the track's return to the UK Top 40; and "Mr Soft" for Trebor Softmints between 1987 and 1994. "Make Me Smile" was used again in a 2005 advertisement for Marks & Spencer
. It was also used on the soundtrack
of the 1997 film
, The Full Monty
and the 1998 glam rock
film Velvet Goldmine
, in the latter's case being used in the end credits.
From 1999 to 2008, Harley presented a show on BBC Radio 2
called Sounds of the 70s
.
In 2006, EMI
released a CD
box set compilation album
spanning Harley's Cockney Rebel and solo work.
On 25 July 2007 they performed in Warsaw
, Poland
and on 28 July 2007 in Saint Petersburg
, Russia
, in both cases opening The Rolling Stones
' concerts.
In 2007, the song Make Me Smile
was used by the Norwegian national lottery Norsk Tipping
in a popular TV commercial in Norway.
Original keyboardist, Reame-James, has since joined with James Staddon, Phil Beer
and Robbie Johnson to create 'Banana Rebel', who have released a CD Top Banana, available from their website.
In 2010, Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel begin touring again setting concert dates for England, Ireland, and Northern Ireland.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
from the early 1970s. Their music covers a range of styles from pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
to progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
. Over the years they have had five album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
s in the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
and twelve singles
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
.
Career
Steve HarleySteve Harley
Steve Harley is an English singer and songwriter, best known for his work with the 1970s rock group Cockney Rebel, with whom he still occasionally tours .-Biography:As a child, Harley suffered from polio, spending four years in hospital up to the...
grew up in London's New Cross
New Cross
New Cross is a district and ward of the London Borough of Lewisham, England. It is situated 4 miles south-east of Charing Cross. The ward covered by London post town and the SE 14 postcode district. New Cross is near St Johns, Telegraph Hill, Nunhead, Peckham, Brockley, Deptford and Greenwich...
area and attended Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham College
Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham College
Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham College is an Academy secondary school located. in New Cross. The school was formerly a Grammar school, then a comprehensive City Technology College and now an Academy operating between two sites near New Cross Gate in South-East London...
. His musical career began in the late 1960s when he was busking
Busking
Street performance or busking is the practice of performing in public places, for gratuities, which are generally in the form of money and edibles...
(with John Crocker aka Jean-Paul Crocker) and performing his own songs, some of which were later recorded
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
by him and the band. After an initial stint as a music journalist
Music journalism
Music journalism is criticism and reportage about music. It began in the eighteenth century as comment on what is now thought of as 'classical music'. This aspect of music journalism, today often referred to as music criticism , comprises the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of...
, the original Cockney Rebel was formed when Harley hooked up with his former folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
partner
Partnership
A partnership is an arrangement where parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests.Since humans are social beings, partnerships between individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments, and varied combinations thereof, have always been and remain commonplace...
, Crocker (fiddle
Fiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
/ mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
/ guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
) in 1972. Crocker had just finished a short stint with Trees
Trees (band)
Trees was an American New Wave one-man band, fronted by Dane Conover, from San Diego, California. Trees only released one album on MCA Records, which was produced by Earle Mankey called Sleep Convention . It was a critical success but a commercial failure...
and they advertised and auditioned drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
Stuart Elliott
Stuart Elliott (drummer)
Stuart Elliott is an English rock drummer, who has played along with David Byron, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, Al Stewart, The Alan Parsons Project, Kate Bush, Paul McCartney and Keats....
, bassist
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
Paul Jeffreys
Paul Jeffreys
Paul Avron Jeffreys was an English rock musician and bassist. Jeffreys played bass on the first two albums of Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, and later worked with a number of British bands, including Be-Bop Deluxe, Warm Jets and Electric Eels...
, and guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
Nick Jones. This line-up played one of the band's first gigs at The Roundhouse
The Roundhouse
The Roundhouse is a Grade II* listed former railway engine shed in Chalk Farm, London, England, which has been converted into a performing arts and concert venue. It was originally built in 1847 as a roundhouse , a circular building containing a railway turntable, but was only used for railway...
in Chalk Farm
Chalk Farm
Chalk Farm is an area of north London, England. It lies directly to the north of Camden Town and its underground station is the closest tube station to the nearby, upmarket neighbourhood of Primrose Hill....
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
on 23 July 1972 supporting The Jeff Beck Group
The Jeff Beck Group
The Jeff Beck Group were an English rock band formed in London in January 1967 by former Yardbirds guitarist Jeff Beck. Their innovative approach to heavy sounding blues and R&B was a major influence on popular music.- The first Jeff Beck Group :...
. Nick was soon replaced by guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
Pete Newnham but Steve felt that the Cockney Rebel sound did not need an electric guitar and they settled on the combination of Crocker's electric violin
Electric violin
An electric violin is a violin equipped with an electronic output of its sound. The term most properly refers to an instrument purposely made to be electrified with built-in pickups, usually with a solid body...
and the Fender Rhodes piano of keyboardist
Keyboardist
A keyboardist is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instruments with keyboards have come into common usage, requiring a more...
Milton Reame-James to share the lead. The band was signed to EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
after playing five gig
Gig (musical performance)
Gig is slang for a musical engagement in which musicians are hired. Originally coined in the 1920s by jazz musicians, the term, short for the word "engagement", now refers to any aspect of performing such as assisting with performance and attending musical performance...
s. Their first single, "Sebastian", was an immediate success in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, although it failed to score in the UK Singles Chart. Their debut album, The Human Menagerie
The Human Menagerie
-External links:* at Rate Your Music...
, was released in 1973. Although not a commercial success they did attract a growing following in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Harley managed to irritate a significant segment of the music press
Music journalism
Music journalism is criticism and reportage about music. It began in the eighteenth century as comment on what is now thought of as 'classical music'. This aspect of music journalism, today often referred to as music criticism , comprises the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of...
with his self-aggrandisement, even as their music 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
Hit record
A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...
with their second single, "Judy Teen". In May 1974, the British music magazine, NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
reported that Cockney Rebel were to undertake their first British tour, with the highlight of the itinerary being a gig
Gig (musical performance)
Gig is slang for a musical engagement in which musicians are hired. Originally coined in the 1920s by jazz musicians, the term, short for the word "engagement", now refers to any aspect of performing such as assisting with performance and attending musical performance...
at London's Victoria Palace Theatre
Victoria Palace Theatre
Victoria Palace Theatre is a West End theatre in Victoria Street, in the City of Westminster, opposite Victoria Station.-Origins:The theatre began life as a small concert room above the stables of the Royal Standard Hotel, a small hotel and tavern built in 1832 at what was then 522 Stockbridge...
on 23 June. There then followed the album The Psychomodo
The Psychomodo
-External links:* at Rate Your Music...
. A session for BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
John Peel
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
, subsequently released on the Live at the BBC album, offered up further evidence of the band's inventiveness. A second single from the album, "Mr. Soft", was also a hit. By this time the problems within the band had already reached a head, and all the musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
s, with the exception of Elliott, quit at the end of a successful UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
tour. Of his erstwhile bandmates, Crocker returned to his acoustic and bluegrass
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
roots to quietly hone his songwriting skills, recording and occasionally performing (with younger brother David) in The Crocker Brothers; whilst Jeffreys and Reame-James were briefly members of Be-Bop Deluxe, before forming their own band, Chartreuse, in 1976.
Harley's next appearance on BBC Television
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
's Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
was supported by session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
s drafted in for the show. Only Elliott remained from the original line-up, with Curved Air
Curved Air
Curved Air are a pioneering British progressive rock group formed in 1970 by musicians from mixed artistic backgrounds, including classic, folk, and electronic sound. The resulting sound of the band was a mixture of progressive rock, folk rock, and fusion with classical elements...
's Francis Monkman
Francis Monkman
Francis Monkman is an English rock, classical and film score composer, and a founding member of the progressive rock band Curved Air.-Career:...
, and B. A. Robertson
B. A. Robertson
B. A. Robertson is a Scottish musician, actor, composer and songwriter.-Career:...
completing the impromptu band. Autumn 1974 brought the release of the group's next single, "Big Big Deal", presumably a taster for their proposed third album. No sooner was the record
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
released, however, than it was withdrawn.
From then on, the band was a band in name only, being more or less a Harley solo
Solo (music)
In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...
project. In 1974, a further album, The Best Years of Our Lives
The Best Years of Our Lives (album)
The Best Years of Our Lives is an album by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel released in March 1975. It was their first album that used Harley's name ahead of the band...
was released, produced by The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' recording engineer
Audio engineering
An audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
, Alan Parsons
Alan Parsons
Alan Parsons is a British audio engineer, musician, and record producer. He was involved with the production of several significant albums, including The Beatles' Abbey Road and Let It Be, as well as Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon for which Pink Floyd credit him as an important contributor...
. This included the track "Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)
Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)
"Make Me Smile " is a song written and recorded by Steve Harley. It was originally recorded by his band Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel on the album The Best Years of Our Lives and released as a single in 1975...
" which would go on to be a UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
number one
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
single in February 1975, and the band's biggest selling hit. It sold over one million copies globally. Amongst the backing vocalist
Backing vocalist
A backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...
s on the act's only #1 was the future chart-topper, Tina Charles. Changing the band name from Cockney Rebel to Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel for the #1 hit, the degeneration was rapid. In a television interview recorded in 2002, Harley described how the lyrics
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
are vindictively directed at the former band members, whom he felt had abandoned him – a fact not obvious in the apparently happy chorus
Refrain
A refrain is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse; the "chorus" of a song...
.
One more single from the album, "Mr. Raffles (Man It Was Mean)" made the Top 20, but then Cockney Rebel disbanded. After 1975, Harley struggled to match that success and faded from fame, although he provided vocals
Human voice
The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal folds for talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, etc. Its frequency ranges from about 60 to 7000 Hz. The human voice is specifically that part of human sound production in which the vocal folds are the primary...
on The Alan Parsons Project
The Alan Parsons Project
The Alan Parsons Project was a British progressive rock band, active between 1975 and 1990, consisting of singer Eric Woolfson and keyboardist Alan Parsons surrounded by a varying number of session musicians....
song, "The Voice" on 1977's I Robot
I Robot (album)
I Robot is a progressive rock album recorded by The Alan Parsons Project, engineered by Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson in 1977. It was released by Arista Records in 1977 and re-released on CD in 1984 and 2007. It was intended to be based on the I, Robot stories written by Isaac Asimov, and Woolfson...
. Harley also had a surprise Top 10 in the summer of 1976 with a cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of "Here Comes the Sun
Here Comes the Sun
"Here Comes the Sun" is a song by George Harrison from The Beatles' 1969 album Abbey Road. It is regarded as one of the most popular Beatles songs. The song was written while Harrison was away from all of these troubles...
". He made a minor comeback in 1979 as a solo artist in the UK Singles Chart with "Freedom's Prisoner". After a brief appearance in the 1980s with a song from Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...
's The Phantom of the Opera
The Phantom of the Opera (1986 musical)
The Phantom of the Opera is a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the French novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux.The music was composed by Lloyd Webber, and most lyrics were written by Charles Hart, with additional lyrics by Richard Stilgoe. Alan Jay Lerner was an early collaborator,...
, Harley began touring again with his old Cockney Rebel songs in the late 1980s and 1990s.
Cockney Rebel's original bassist, Paul Jeffreys, was one of those who died on Pan Am Flight 103
Pan Am Flight 103
Pan Am Flight 103 was Pan American World Airways' third daily scheduled transatlantic flight from London Heathrow Airport to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport...
in 1988. He was with his bride on their honeymoon
Honeymoon
-History:One early reference to a honeymoon is in Deuteronomy 24:5 “When a man is newly wed, he need not go out on a military expedition, nor shall any public duty be imposed on him...
.
In April 1990, Harley and several former members of Cockney Rebel Mark II reformed as Raffles United, and played four consecutive nights in a pub
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
in Sudbury, London
Sudbury, London
Sudbury is a suburb in the London Boroughs of Brent and Harrow, located in northwest London, UK.Sudbury is an historical area having once extended from the 'South Manor- Sudbury' to the area that is now known as Wembley Central...
.
Harley has released several solo albums since – Yes You Can
Yes You Can (album)
Yes You Can is an album by Steve Harley released in 1993.-Track listing:All songs written by Steve Harley unless noted.#"Irresistible" - 5:13#"Victim of Love" - 5:33 #"Rain in Venice" - 4:52...
in 1992, Poetic Justice
Poetic Justice (Steve Harley album)
-Track listing:All songs written by Steve Harley unless noted.#"That's My Life in Your Hands" - 3:51 #"What Becomes of the Broken Hearted" - 4:14 #"Two Damn'd Lies" - 5:08#"Loveless" - 4:47...
in 1996, and most recently, The Quality of Mercy in 2005, the first since the 1970s to be released with the Cockney Rebel name. He has dubbed his current touring band 'Cockney Rebel Mark III' – although the band contains only two original members in Harley and Elliott.
Two of the bigger hits appeared in UK television advertisement
Television advertisement
A television advertisement or television commercial, often just commercial, advert, ad, or ad-film – is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization that conveys a message, typically one intended to market a product...
s in the 1990s: "Make Me Smile" for Carlsberg Lager in 1995, prompting the track's return to the UK Top 40; and "Mr Soft" for Trebor Softmints between 1987 and 1994. "Make Me Smile" was used again in a 2005 advertisement for Marks & Spencer
Marks & Spencer
Marks and Spencer plc is a British retailer headquartered in the City of Westminster, London, with over 700 stores in the United Kingdom and over 300 stores spread across more than 40 countries. It specialises in the selling of clothing and luxury food products...
. It was also used on the soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
of the 1997 film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, The Full Monty
The Full Monty
The Full Monty is a 1997 British comedy film directed by Peter Cattaneo, starring Robert Carlyle, Mark Addy, William Snape, Steve Huison, Tom Wilkinson, Paul Barber, and Hugo Speer. The screenplay was written by Simon Beaufoy...
and the 1998 glam rock
Glam rock
Glam rock is a style of rock and pop music that developed in the UK in the early 1970s, which was performed by singers and musicians who wore outrageous clothes, makeup and hairstyles, particularly platform-soled boots and glitter...
film Velvet Goldmine
Velvet Goldmine
Velvet Goldmine is a 1998 British/American drama film directed and co-written by Todd Haynes. The film tells the story of a pop star based mainly on David Bowie's 'Ziggy Stardust' character and is set in Britain during the days of glam rock in the early 1970s.Sandy Powell received another Academy...
, in the latter's case being used in the end credits.
From 1999 to 2008, Harley presented a show on BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
called Sounds of the 70s
Sounds of the 60s
Sounds of the 60s is a long-running Saturday morning programme on BBC Radio 2 that features recordings of popular music made in the 1960s. It was first broadcast on 12 February 1983 and introduced by Keith Fordyce who had been the first presenter of the TV show Ready Steady Go! in 1963...
.
In 2006, EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
released a CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
box set compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
spanning Harley's Cockney Rebel and solo work.
On 25 July 2007 they performed in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and on 28 July 2007 in Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, in both cases opening The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
' concerts.
In 2007, the song Make Me Smile
Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)
"Make Me Smile " is a song written and recorded by Steve Harley. It was originally recorded by his band Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel on the album The Best Years of Our Lives and released as a single in 1975...
was used by the Norwegian national lottery Norsk Tipping
Norsk Tipping
Norsk Tipping AS is the national lottery in Norway, located in Hamar. The company offers a wide range of lottery, sports and instant games in the Norwegian market. Norsk Tipping is owned by the Norwegian government and administered by Norwegian Ministry of Culture and Church Affairs...
in a popular TV commercial in Norway.
Original keyboardist, Reame-James, has since joined with James Staddon, Phil Beer
Phil Beer
Phil Beer is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, and one half of English acoustic roots duo Show of Hands.-Biography:...
and Robbie Johnson to create 'Banana Rebel', who have released a CD Top Banana, available from their website.
In 2010, Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel begin touring again setting concert dates for England, Ireland, and Northern Ireland.
Cockney Rebel band personnel
- John Crocker - violinViolinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
/ mandolinMandolinA mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
/ guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
- 1972-74 - Paul JeffreysPaul JeffreysPaul Avron Jeffreys was an English rock musician and bassist. Jeffreys played bass on the first two albums of Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, and later worked with a number of British bands, including Be-Bop Deluxe, Warm Jets and Electric Eels...
- born 13 February 1952 - bassBass (instrument)Bass describes musical instruments that produce tones in the low-pitched range. They belong to different families of instruments and can cover a wide range of musical roles...
- 1972-74 - died 21 December 1988 in the Lockerbie air disasterPan Am Flight 103Pan Am Flight 103 was Pan American World Airways' third daily scheduled transatlantic flight from London Heathrow Airport to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport... - Milton Reame-James - born 1950 - keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
- 1973-74 - Stuart ElliottStuart Elliott (drummer)Stuart Elliott is an English rock drummer, who has played along with David Byron, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, Al Stewart, The Alan Parsons Project, Kate Bush, Paul McCartney and Keats....
- born Stuart Alexander Elliot, 5 May 1953, ManchesterManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, LancashireLancashireLancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
- drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
- 1972-77, 2006 - Jim CreganJim CreganJim Cregan, born James Cregan, 9 March 1946, Yeovil, Somerset, England is an English rock guitarist and bassist who best known for his associations with Family, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel and Rod Stewart. Cregan is a former husband of the singer Linda Lewis and worked with her as a record producer...
- born 9 March 1946, YeovilYeovilYeovil is a town and civil parish in south Somerset, England. The parish had a population of 27,949 at the 2001 census, although the wider urban area had a population of 42,140...
, SomersetSomersetThe ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
- guitaristGuitaristA guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
- 1975-77 - Duncan MackayDuncan Mackay (musician)Duncan Mackay is a British composer, singer, arranger, and keyboard player.-External links:...
- born 2 July 1950, LeedsLeedsLeeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, YorkshireYorkshireYorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
- keyboards - 1975-77 - George Ford - born 1 January 1950 - bassistBassistA bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
- 1975-77 - Lincoln Anderson - born 27 December 1958 - bassistBassistA bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
- 1998–Present
See also
- List of glam rock artists
- List of forerunners of punk music
- List of artists who reached number one on the UK Singles Chart
- List of performers on Top of the Pops
- List of Peel sessions