Stephen Malcolm Ronald Nice (27 February 1951 – 17 March 2024), known by his stage name Steve Harley, was an English singer-songwriter and frontman of the rock group Cockney Rebel.

[7][8] In 1968, at the age of 17, Harley began his first full-time job, working as a trainee accountant with the Daily Express, despite having gained only 24% in his mock O-level maths exam.

[5] At the age of 21, unwilling to write a story about a woman who had taken two tins of food from a shop, Harley determined to get sacked, an objective he achieved by not wearing a tie and growing his hair long.

[5] The original Cockney Rebel consisted of Harley, Crocker, drummer Stuart Elliott, bassist Paul Jeffreys and guitarist Nick Jones.

With original drummer Stuart Elliott remaining in the band, the new line-up included guitarist Jim Cregan, keyboard player Duncan Mackay and bassist George Ford.

[26] During the same period Harley also produced Dutch singer Patricia Paay's album Beam of Light, with members of Cockney Rebel performing on many of the tracks.

In July they released a cover of George Harrison's "Here Comes the Sun",[30] which reached number 10 in the UK and became the band's last top 40 single, discounting a later re-release of "Make Me Smile".

[31] For Mackay's second solo album Score, recorded in August and September 1976, and released in 1977, Harley wrote the lyrics to four tracks and provided lead vocals on "Time is No Healer".

[41] On the album, the tracks "Amerika the Brave" and "Someone's Coming" featured Marc Bolan's last studio performances, recorded shortly before his fatal car accident in September 1977.

The show was staged as a benefit concert for the family of lighting technician Bill Duffield, who had died after a tragic fall earlier on Bush's tour.

[55] In June 1983, Cockney Rebel played a one-off concert in London and Harley released the single "Ballerina (Prima Donna)", which was written and produced by Mike Batt.

Harley then successfully auditioned to play the title role on stage and spent five months working on the part, including rehearsal with producer Hal Prince.

In June 1986, a newly remixed version of "Irresistible" was issued as the lead single from Harley's forthcoming solo album El Gran Senor, but it failed to chart.

On 3 May 1988, the trio performed the song at a live TV broadcast at Battersea Park in London as part of the Thames/LWT charity fundraising effort for the ITV Telethon.

To promote the band's 1989 summer tour, Harley released the solo single "When I'm with You", which was recorded in early 1989 with ex-Cockney Rebel members Duncan Mackay and Jim Cregan at London's Point Studios.

[67] In late 1989, Harley was scheduled to play the title role in a feature film based on the true story of John 'Babbacombe' Lee, an Englishman famous for surviving three attempts to hang him for murder.

[68] During 1990, he also contributed lead vocals on "Harrow on the Hill", a track from the album Poetry in Motion featuring the words of Sir John Betjeman and music by Mike Read.

[77] In 1997, Harley participated in the Granada Men & Motors TV music quiz show Elvis Has Just Left the Building, hosted by Mike Sweeney, with Noddy Holder and Clint Boon as team captains.

[78] In 1998, Harley embarked on his first acoustic tour "Stripped to the Bare Bones" with Cockney Rebel's violinist and guitarist Nick Pynn accompanying him.

The pair played over a hundred dates, including fifty-four concerts in the UK, and coincided with the release of a new compilation album, More Than Somewhat – The Very Best of Steve Harley, which reached number 82 in the charts.

[81] In 2000, Harley re-issued his first two solo albums, Hobo with a Grin and The Candidate, on CD through Comeuppance, and between March and May he embarked on the acoustic tour "Stripped Again", accompanied by Cockney Rebel guitarist Robbie Gladwell.

Towards the end of the year, Harley travelled to Cologne to collaborate with German artist Guido Dossche on the song "Ich Bin Gott", which was issued as a single in Germany in 2004.

His efforts raising money for the Mines Advisory group and several schools for Disabled Children were cited in a speech delivered by blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa.

Earlier that year in February, Harley, a self-confessed technophobe, attributed poor literacy rates and the moral corrosion of British society to modern technology.

[101] On 24 November 2012, Harley and his band, along with the Orchestra of the Swan and their Chamber Choir, performed the first two Cockney Rebel albums, The Human Menagerie and The Psychomodo, in their entirety for the first time at the Birmingham Symphony Hall.

[105] In January 2015, "Make Me Smile" re-charted at number 72 in the UK, after Top Gear presenters Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May urged viewers to download the song, as part of their discussion that Harley had recently received a speeding fine.

[107] In November, Harley and the surviving members of the original second line-up of Cockney Rebel reunited for a 16-date UK tour to celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Best Years of Our Lives album.

[110][111] In November 2016, Harley was one of a number of musicians who teamed up with British Members of Parliament and the Royal Opera House Thurrock Community Chorus to record a charity version of the Rolling Stones song "You Can't Always Get What You Want" in memory of Labour MP Jo Cox.

[121] In October 2023, after touring earlier in the year, Harley was forced to cancel all upcoming late 2023 and early 2024 shows, citing "a medical procedure followed by a period of recuperation".

[123] This included the "Come Up and See Me... And Other Stories" tour, on which Harley was due to perform acoustic versions of his songs with his bandmate Barry Wickens, tell anecdotes and take part in Q&A sessions.