posthumously Steve Harley
Steve Harley, the frontman of the British music group Cockney Rebel, has died at the age of 73. The band is best known for the hits ‘Make me smile’ and ‘Sebastian’.
Bron: BELGA, The Guardian
Today at 3:57 PM
Musician Steve Harley died at home in Suffolk, England, surrounded by his family. At the end of 2023, he reported that he was undergoing cancer treatment and that it was going well. But a month ago he decided to stop performing because things were getting worse. His last tour took him to Het Depot in Leuven in April 2023.
Harley made music for more than half a century. The band Cockney Rebel was especially successful in the 1970s. Their biggest hit was ‘Make me smile (Come up and see me)’ from 1975, a cheerful and especially catchy pop song. It became a number 1 hit in Great Britain and reached seventh position in the predecessor of the Ultratop 50. The song was covered more than a hundred times, in seven languages, including by artists such as Duran Duran (as the B-side from their single ‘The reflex’), Erasure and The Wedding Present. ‘Make me smile (Come up and see me)’ was also featured in the films Velvet Goldmine and The Full Monty.
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‘Sebastian’, another well-known song, sounds more epic and bombastic. It fits in well with the glam rock scene of the early 1970s in which Cockney Rebel moved. Another well-known song by Cockney Rebel was ‘Here comes the sun’, a cover of The Beatles.
In addition to Harley, the original band consisted of Jean-Paul Crocker, drummer Stuart Elliott, bassist Paul Jeffreys and guitarist Nick Jones. Their first performance was as support act for the Jeff Beck Group at the Roundhouse in London. In the five decades that followed, the group would continue to perform, although Harley also regularly went solo.
Harley also presented the BBC Radio 2 show Sounds of the 70s from 1999 to 2008. It is now presented by Johnnie Walker. Harley’s last album was 2020’s Uncovered, a collection of covers.
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