Rock singer Steve Harley has died of cancer at the age of 73

The co-founder of the British band Cockney Rebel was sometimes moody and unpredictable during shows.

British singer and co-founder of the rock band Cockney Rebel, Steve HarleyThe radio reported that the musician died of cancer at the age of 73 Sky News And BBC on Sunday, according to his family.

Steve Harley, born Stephen Ness on February 27, 1951 in London, contracted polio at the age of two and consequently spent a total of four years in hospitals until he was fourteen. During this time his interest in music grew. His mother, a former jazz singer, encouraged Harley's desire to become a musician through guitar and piano lessons.

Cockney Rebel was founded in 1972

In the late 1960s he began writing his own songs, some of which later appeared on his albums, and performed them in small clubs in and around London. In 1972 he founded Cockney Rebel. When performing, Harley was sometimes moody and unpredictable. Cockney Rebel achieved their biggest commercial success in 1975 with the song “Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me)”.

In the studio, producer Alan Parsons played a major role in the sound of the hit albums “The Psychomodo” and “The Best Years of Our Lives.” In 1977, Harley performed as a backing vocalist on his old friend Marc Bolan's song “Dandy in the Underworld.” In the mid-1980s he sang “Phantom of the Opera” from the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical of the same name with Sarah Brightman.