Born in south-east London, he began his career as a trainee accountant with the Daily Express before spending several years as a journalist on local newspapers. Quitting in 1971, he briefly plied his trade as a musician on London's folk-rock circuit before forming Cockney Rebel the following year. Signed to EMI, their debut album, The Human Menagerie (1973), sold poorly, prompting Harley to write the catchy Judy Teen as a corrective. The single reached No 5 in the UK. Second album The Psychomodo (1974) yielded another hit in Mr Soft. Tensions within the band prompted a line-up change for third LP The Best Years Of Our Lives (1975), an artistic high watermark full of brilliantly crafted songs, not least its lead single Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me) which combined Harley's scornful lyrics aimed at his ex-bandmates - with irresistible melodies, propelling it to the top of the charts. Never regaining those commercial heights, Cockney Rebel released two more albums before Harley went solo, releasing the LPs Hobo With A Grin (1978) and The Candidate (1979). Both sold poorly, prompting a number of years largely spent away from the music scene though he returned to the charts briefly in 1986, his duet with Sarah Brightman on the title song of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom Of The Opera reaching the Top 10.
Assembling a new line-up of Cockney Rebel in 1989, he continued to tour and release albums into the 2020s.
This story is from the May 2024 edition of Record Collector.
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This story is from the May 2024 edition of Record Collector.
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