Cockney Rebel legend Steve Harley has just had his flu jab. It’s not his idea of fun.
“I’ve got two phobias, Mike,” he’s telling me. “One of them is heights. I can’t step onto a balcony over three storeys high. I’m terrified I’d jump and try to fly.
“The other is hypodermics. I lived a hell of a life in the 70s. The drugs and booze that went through my system, I can’t begin to tell you.
“But I was never going to be a junkie because I could never have injected myself.
“I was always going to survive.”
This flu jab is extra-vital now, as 68-year-old Steve starts a big UK tour.
Steve dabbled with drugs and booze in the 70s (Image: 1976 Michael Putland)
Catching a bug just isn’t an option. “My voice is my instrument,” he points out.
The new album he’s promoting, Uncovered, is mostly covers of other artist’s songs, by acts including The Beatles and Cat Stevens.
It’s tremendous, but should we read anything into the fact it contains only two tracks of his own?
“There’s an impression going around that I can’t write songs anymore,” Steve admits. “But I haven’t dried up.
“You do have barren periods. Perhaps I’m in the middle of one, but last time I checked my iPhone I’d started 76 new ones. They must be in there somewhere!”
In the meantime, nobody’s going to object to hearing these covers given a unique Harley twist.
68-year-old Steve is starting a big UK tour (Image: newcastle chronicle)
That, plus Steve’s own classics – especially his 1975 chart-topper Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me).
“That’s got a life of its own,” he chuckles. “We can be playing a huge festival in front of thousands of people and if they know nothing else about me, they’ll know Make Me Smile.”
Released 45 years ago, it’s been covered 130 times – and used in adverts for everything from M&S to Viagra.
“I once asked Bryan Adams if he thought I was prostituting it.
“He said, ‘Hell no, that’s just the song doing its job.’
“And I thought, ‘Yeah, I’ll buy that!’
Steve isn’t one to dwell on his glam heyday (Image: PA)
“I didn’t write it to be precious. It’s entertaining people and earning money.
“Having said that, I’ve been known to refuse quite large sums for it. I turned down a commercial in Sweden – I think it was for toothpaste – because the ad looked a bit anti-Semitic.”
Steve isn’t one to dwell on his glam heyday. You won’t catch him watching old clips of himself on YouTube.
“I don’t think I’d like what I saw,” he says. “I like who I am today.
“A lot of 70s acts still working are expected to look like they did 45 years ago.
“It’d be like me still having to wear a bowler hat and make-up.
A Steve Harley gig today is a very different proposition to what it used to be (Image: Getty Images)
“I’d rather quit.”
Not surprisingly, then, a Steve Harley gig today is a very different proposition. For one thing, he won’t play standing venues.
“And if there’s a bar, we insist it’s shut while we’re on.
“You can’t play while people are standing there holding pints and chatting.
“Besides, tickets are expensive now. In 1973, you could see me for about 75p.”
● Steve’s album Uncovered is out today. For tour details, visit steveharley.com/dates
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
