Steve Harley, singer with Cockney Rebel, dies at 73
nme.comHis family continued that they knew Harley would be “desperately missed by people all over the world”.“Whoever you know him as, his heart exuded only core elements.
Passion, kindness, generosity. And much more, in abundance.”Born Stephen Nice, the musician grew up in London, and while working as a local journalist in the early 1970s, he started busking and playing in the city’s folk scene.He formed the glam rock group Cockney Rebel in 1972 with Jean-Paul Crocker, Stuart Elliott, Paul Jeffreys and Milton Reame-James, and they were quickly signed by EMI Records.The band had early success with singles such as ‘Judy Teen’ and ‘Mr.
Soft’, but they began to fall apart due to other members wanting to write more of the group’s material.Harley reformed the band with a new line-up, including Elliott, Jim Cregan, Duncan Mackay and George Ford, and renamed them Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel.
Their first single together, ‘Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)’, was a UK Number One single in 1975 and charted on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US.
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