Cockney Rebel's Steve Harley talks Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Richard Madeley and upcoming show - interview

Richard Madeley - in his first job as a reporter - took over his desk after he decided to pursue a music career.

His greatest hit Make Me Smile has been covered more than 100 times in more than seven languages.

He had a show on Radio 2 for nine years.

And yet back in the early 70s, Cockney Rebel Steve Harley was busking on the underground and floor spotting in folk clubs.

He's had an interesting life, to say the least.

I had been more than a little nervous before the interview - as I and my father are fans of his; used to seeing him on stage, surrounded by adoring fans.

"Hello, is that Steve?" I asked meekly.

"Hi, yes, hello Kirsten - how is your personal life? I understand your other half has been unwell."

My jaw hit the floor. Not only did I have Steve Harley on the phone - sat in his personal office - but he knew who I was and he was asking about my life. Incredible.

And that is just how I would describe Steve - an incredible, open and kind family man, yet still a suave rock star, stern in his convictions.

See Steve Harley perform Make Me Smile back in 1975 here:

The seventies icon comes to the Black Country on Monday (Nov 28) for an acoustic trio set at The Robin 2 in Bilston.

He's played the Midlands many times before - only last time he visited Birmingham in 2015, it was alongside his rock band - and the time before that, in 2014, saw him share a stage with a full orchestra and choir.

"It'll be a very different experience this time with the acoustic trio. We've gone from having 57 people on stage - with the full orchestra and choir - to just the three of us. Last year we toured as a nine-piece rock band," he said.

"I have to put a different hat on each time. It keeps things fresh.

"But the orchestra show, I had to do that. After Birmingham it was so successful, we do had to do it several times more. They were major events.

"I love touring. I'm a real tourist: I like to see the cities we play - and we're all the same.

"We played as a trio in Norway a few years ago and we were taken out to see the Northern Lights.That's something people pay hundreds of pounds to see.

"I love playing the Symphony Hall. When I play there I stay in the Hyatt and I like walking around Brindley Place - it's very pretty. I always have a good stroll about. It's very calm.

"I'm quite traditional when it comes to art and architecture, but I also love that crazy library in the middle of Birmingham. I can see people either hating or loving it, but I think it's fantastic."

Unusually for the Robin 2, Steve's show next week will be seated - as the set is due to last for three hours.

"I don't mind standing shows when I'm playing with the rock band, but this acoustic trio show will be more intimate," added Steve.

"Also, when people have a beer in their hand and they're standing, they talk - and that's not nice when you're trying to sing a delicate song.

"The Bilston audience knows me very well. The Robin 2 is a really good venue - very professionally managed.

"We'll be singing a range of the classics, plus some stuff from Timeless Flight, as that album is 40 this year. We've included a fair few surprises this time. It's going to be a very unusual set."

Steve, inspired by poetry and literature as a child, began his career in newspapers - with a job at the East London Advertiser as a reporter. Destined for a life in music, Steve began busking, growing his hair and refusing to wear a tie.

"In the end they had to sack me. Of course, back in those days it wasn't that big a deal; you'd just get another job," he said.

"But I didn't want a job and so I spent nine months on the dole and then started my music career."

When Steve left, Richard Madeley took over his desk; something Richard frequently mentions to this day.

"I've met Richard Madeley several times - and he always tells that story," said Steve.

"It's true. I was working on the East London Advertiser, I was there for a year.

"I had a great time as a journalist and it's where I met my best friends.

"When they sacked me, they had to take on a young journalist - Richard Madeley applied and he got it."

When asked who most inspired him, Steve says his biggest influences were Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan.

"We've just lost one of my greatest influences - Leonard Cohen. I had his first album back in 1968," said Steve.

"Many people only switched on to him following his release of Hallelujah years later - but he'd been going for a long time before that.

"His death really is another great loss. He was such as charismatic man."

Being a songwriter himself and a huge Dylan fan, Steve has some interesting thoughts on the icon's recent Nobel Prize accolade.

"Dylan getting the Nobel Prize for Literature is a contentious one - a bit like the library in Birmingham. This is coming from his biggest fan," he said.

"Leonard Cohen used to say he wrote lyrics, not poetry.

"There's a difference between lyrics and poems. In a song, you can get away with imperfect rhymes - that is not the case with poetry. And Bob knows it.

"I think he might even be a little bit embarrassed by the whole thing, to be honest.

"He has to be one of the greatest lyricists ever. Dylan is a genius.

"That's why he won't take their calls - and they say he's rude. Of course he's rude - he's not normal, he's extraordinary.

"I've met him. He was incredibly charming.

"I'm really thrilled to bits for him to have received the award though - even if he isn't."

By Kirsten Rawlins