Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel were an English rock band who formed in the early 1970s in London.

Career

Steve Harley grew up in the New Cross area of London, and attended Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham Boys' School. 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.

The original Cockney Rebel

After an initial stint as a journalist, 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, Chalk Farm, London on 23 July 1973, supporting the Jeff Beck Group. Jones was soon replaced by guitarist Pete Newnham, but Harley 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. Although the album was not a commercial success, the band attracted a growing following in London. The album The Psychomodo followed. Reame-James and Jeffreys formed the band Chartreuse in 1976.

From then on, the band – billed as Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel – were a band in name only, being more or less a Harley solo project. Amongst the backing vocalists on the song was Tina Charles. In a television interview recorded in 2002, Harley described how the lyrics are vindictively directed at the former band members who, he felt, had abandoned him. , for whose band Jeffreys and had departed, confirms this story. After 1975, Harley struggled to match the success of "Make Me Smile" and faded from fame, and Cockney Rebel eventually disbanded. In April 1990, after the success of the 1989 "Come Back, All Is Forgiven" tour, Harley and several members of that tour's line-up reformed as Raffles United, and played four consecutive nights in a pub in Sudbury, London. These concerts were essentially used as Pop Idol style auditions for new band members, in particular a new bassist, lead guitarist, drummer, and violinist. Harley's brother, Ian Nice, who had played keyboards in 1989, remained on keyboards for both this show, and most of the band's tours in the 1990s. The band's line-up that got finalised from these shows ended up debuting on June 5, 1990, at Doncaster Dome, and consisted of Harley, Ian Nice on keyboards, Nick Pynn on violin and guitar, Robbie Gladwell on lead guitar, Paul Francis on drums, and Billy Dyer on bass guitar. As of 2022, Gladwell continues to perform this role in the band, whereas Dyer has returned sporadically when the usual bassist for the band has been ill.

Harley has released several solo albums since – Yes You Can in 1992 (including the singles "Irresistible" and "Star for a Week (Dino)"), Poetic Justice in 1996, and most recently, The Quality of Mercy in 2005 (which included the singles "A Friend for Life" and "The Last Goodbye"), the first since the 1970s to be released with the Cockney Rebel name. He dubbed his touring band 'Cockney Rebel Mark III'.

Tours and new material since 2010

In 2010, Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel began touring again setting concert dates for England, Ireland, and Northern Ireland. This was done following the release of the new studio album Stranger Comes to Town. In October 2012, the remastered four-disc box-set anthology compilation album Cavaliers: An Anthology 1973–1974 was released, chronicling the recording career of the original Cockney Rebel line-up. On 24 November 2012 the band including the Orchestra of the Swan and a choir performed the band's first two albums The Human Menagerie and The Psychomodo in their entirety for the first time. A live double-CD and DVD was released in October 2013 of this performance, titled Birmingham.

In 2015, a 16-date UK tour was announced to celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Best Years of Our Lives and "Make Me Smile". Harley reunited with the surviving members of the original second line-up for the tour: Jim Cregan, Stuart Elliott and Duncan Mackay. It marked the first time that Harley and his three bandmates had played together since 1976. As original bassist George Ford died in 2007, the then Cockney Rebel bassist Marty Prior took his place. The band were also joined by current Cockney Rebel violinist and guitarist Barry Wickens, as well as the MonaLisa Twins (Mona and Lisa Wagner) on guitar, percussion and backing vocals.

In 2016, the newly reestablished Chrysalis Records, now owned by Blue Raincoat Music, announced that it had acquired the Cockney Rebel catalogue. Harley was one of the artists who appeared on the label's first release, a charity single of the Rolling Stones' "You Can't Always Get What You Want" credited to Friends of Jo Cox in tribute to Jo Cox, a Labour Party MP who had been assassinated earlier that year.

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, Harley's live shows resumed in August 2021. The line-up for the full rock band shows consisted of Harley, Wickens, Lascelles, Gladwell, Elliott, and Harada. The 2021 shows marked the first time this line-up toured together (having only previously played festivals in 2016), as well as Gladwell's full-time return to the band, having stood in sporadically for Paul Cuddeford on a handful of occasions between 2017 and 2020. The set-lists for the 2021 shows featured many songs that had not been played live for many years, in particular from Harley's 1992 album Yes You Can.

Acoustic tours

After the success of 1998 and 1999's respective 'Stripped To The Bare Bones' and 'Stripped Again' tours, Harley would continue to tour in an acoustic format. Firstly with Jim Cregan and a selection of other members of Cockney Rebel, depending on the exact date of the show, in 2002. This format produced 2003's Acoustic and Pure: Live album. With the exception of the 2015 reunion, which was in the full band format, Cregan would next join Harley for two acoustic shows in March 2020, which otherwise featured Harley performing alone. In 2003 and 2004, the five-piece acoustic line-up that played 2004's Anytime! (A Live Set) album was put together, featuring Lascelles on percussion, Gladwell on lead guitar, Wickens on violin/guitar, and Anderson on double bass. In 2005 and 2006, this format was used in Holland and Belgium while promoting 2005's The Quality Of Mercy album, and these shows are notable for featuring significant rearrangements of some of the songs from the album, which were never played during concerts in England. These shows were played without Anderson.

Between 2010 and 2019, these concerts were revived as a three-man line-up, with Harley alongside Wickens and Lascelles (this time on keyboards and percussion, as per his role in the full rock band shows). These shows were originally marketed as the '3-man acoustic show' before being renamed to 'Acoustic Trio' in 2016. The shows in 2010 were marketed as an 'Acoustic Set', as they were the first UK acoustic shows since 2004. The Trio format was technically a revival of the original acoustic format as envisaged in 1997, which would have been a three-man show with Harley, Nice, and Pynn. This format was phased out in 2020 – in order to promote Harley's new album Uncovered – in favour of a revived four-man line-up, though with David Delarre on lead guitar, and Oli Hayhurst on double bass, with Harley and Wickens reprising their roles. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed most of the shows on this tour – with only the first nine played as planned. Two shows were, however, played in late-September 2020, both in the acoustic trio format, though Hayhurst accompanied the trio on the second of these shows. In addition, Harley held an online Q and A session via Zoom Videoconferencing in mid-December 2020.

Reissues and non-band activities

Two of the bigger hits appeared in UK television advertisements 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, titled The Cockney Rebel – A Steve Harley Anthology.

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.

Original keyboardist, Reame-James, had 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.

Steve Harley died at his home in Suffolk on 17 March 2024, aged 73, after announcing that he had been diagnosed with cancer.

Discography

;Cockney Rebel

  • The Human Menagerie (1973)
  • The Psychomodo (1974)

;Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel studio discography

  • The Best Years of Our Lives (1975)
  • Timeless Flight (1976)
  • Love's a Prima Donna (1976)
  • The Quality of Mercy (2005)

Tribute Songs

"With a White White Dove" by The Gathering Stone.

The song was written by Colin Grethe and released by The Gathering Stone, a band based in Scotland, on 2 February 2026. It is a tribute to Steve Harley (and Cockney Rebel), released in time for Steve's birthday (27 February 1951) and for the remembrance of his passing (17 March 2024). The lyrics make reference to 35 Harley and Cockney Rebel song titles.

'With a White White Dove' reached No. 1 in the Heritage Chart on 12 April 2026 and remained at No. 1 the following week, 19 April 2026 (The Heritage Chart's 300th chart).

Personnel

1970s

Cockney Rebel: line-up 1 (1972)

  • Steve Harley – vocals, guitar
  • John Crocker – violin, mandolin, guitar
  • Nick Jones – guitar
  • Paul Jeffreys – bass
  • Stuart Elliott – drums

Cockney Rebel: line-up 2 (1972)

  • Paul Jeffreys – bass
  • Stuart Elliott – drums

Cockney Rebel: line-up 3 (1972 to 1974)

  • George Ford – bass
  • Duncan Mackay – keyboards
  • Stuart Elliott – drums
  • Lindsay Elliott – percussion (1975–1977)
  • Snowy White – guitar (The Best Years of Our Lives tour only, 1975)
  • Jo Partridge – guitar (1976–1977)
  • Steve Harley – vocals, guitar
  • Jo Partridge – guitar
  • Nico Ramsden – guitar
  • Jimmy Horowitz – keyboards
  • John Gibb – bass
  • Stuart Elliott – drums
  • Lindsey Elliott – percussion

1980s

Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel (1980)

  • Steve Harley – vocals, guitar
  • Rick Driscoll – guitar
  • Alan Darby – guitar
  • Guy Fletcher – keyboards
  • Kevin Powell – bass
  • Lindsay Elliott – drums

Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel (1981)

  • Steve Harley – vocals, guitar
  • Rick Driscoll – guitar, backing vocals
  • Alan Darby – guitar
  • Andy Qunta – keyboards
  • Gavin Hodgson – bass
  • Lindsay Elliott – drums

Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel (1984)

  • Steve Harley – vocals, guitar
  • Rick Driscoll – guitar, backing vocals
  • Alan Darby – guitar
  • Barry Wickens – violin, guitar, backing vocals
  • Ian Nice – keyboards
  • Kevin Powell – bass, backing vocals
  • Lindsay Elliott – drums
  • Martin Jay – backing vocals
  • Suzanne Murphy – backing vocals

Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel (1989)

  • Steve Harley – lead vocals, guitar
  • Rick Driscoll – guitar, backing vocals
  • Barry Wickens – violin, guitar, backing vocals
  • Ian Nice – keyboards
  • Kevin Powell – bass, backing vocals
  • Stuart Elliott – drums

1990s

Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel (1990)

  • Steve Harley – lead vocals, guitar
  • Robbie Gladwell – guitar
  • Nick Pynn – violin, guitar
  • Ian Nice – keyboards
  • Bill Dyer – bass
  • Paul Francis – drums

Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel (1996)

  • Steve Harley – vocals, guitar
  • Nick Pynn – guitar, violin, mandocello
  • Tom Arnold – keyboards
  • Susan Harvey – keyboards, backing vocals
  • Bill Dyer – bass
  • Andy Houghton – drums

2000s

Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel (2001)

  • Steve Harley – vocals, guitar
  • Robbie Gladwell – guitar
  • Barry Wickens – violin, guitar, backing vocals
  • James Lascelles – keyboards
  • Lincoln Anderson – bass
  • Andy Houghton – drums
  • Victoria Beebee – backing vocals, percussion

Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel (2005)

  • Steve Harley – vocals, guitar
  • Robbie Gladwell – guitar
  • Barry Wickens – violin, guitar, backing vocals
  • James Lascelles – keyboards
  • Lincoln Anderson – bass
  • Andy Houghton – drums

2010s

Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel (2015)