Sad to hear that Cockney Rebel singer Steve Harley has died after a battle with Cancer. Steve was still touring into the middle of last year. In December though he announced his fight with Cancer, and 2024 began with the announcement that due to ongoing health problems, no shows were currently planned for 2024.

Steve’s musical heyday was also my favourite time for the charts where pop music was concerned, the mid-1970’s. His band Cockney Rebel slid into Glam Rock consciousness alongside the likes of T Rex, The Sweet and Slade with a lyrical style all their own led by Harley’s unique vocal style and had hits like ‘Judy Teen’ and ‘Mr Soft’. They even managed to have a hit with a Beatles song which requires something very special, and indeed, Harley’s vocal on ‘Here Comes The Sun’ proved to be a perfect match for George Harrison’s lyrics.

In October of 2009 Steve Harley played a memorable show at Bonn Harmonie. Memorable for me particularly, as I remember him looking straight at me from the stage with a look of disapproval and loudly remarking that I should stop checking the pictures I was taking and listen to the music instead. Which I now take as a positive that it was the music, and not his image, that mattered to him. How could I be annoyed for long anyway? Just a half hour later he was playing ‘(Come up and see me) Make Me Smile’. One of those songs that will forever be etched in the ears and the hearts of us ’70’s teenagers.