Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel

Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel were an English rock band who formed in the early 1970s in London. Their music covered a range of styles from pop to progressive rock. Over the years, they had five albums on the UK Albums Chart and twelve singles on the UK Singles Chart.

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, Harley hooked up with his former folk music partner, Crocker (fiddle / mandolin / guitar) in 1972 to form the original Cockney Rebel. 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. The band was signed to EMI after playing five gigs. 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 the album was not a commercial success, the band attracted a growing following in London.