I'm not that surprised, Cockney Rebel were with their artsy/glam image, the lack of a guitarist in their original line up (they had a violinist taking that role) and Harley's overt "Britness" and highly mannered singing very much an English (not even European) phenomenon, bit like Roxy Music or Sparks (though the Mael brothers were exile yanks). He was also a former music journalist turned rock star and he had a big mouth which ensured that his former fellow scribes followed what he did closely if not sympathetically, he was always good for a contentious quote.
The cover of their first album probably turned a few heads in the US too as it had that David Bowie/Jobriath look en vogue at the time
But now that Dave says it I distinctly remember that I heard a tape of it at the American school in Kinshasa only after an English fellow pupil had lent it to me (together with his Status Quo tapes, kind of an odd combination but I liked both!). Cockney Rebel's two other major hits were the quirky Mr Soft and the orchestral ballad Sebastian (which for its line "and you are so gay" became a gay anthem though Harley wasn't/isn't and claims not to have had gay rights on his mind when writing it), both from their artsy guitar-less phase:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m84qt2NGQtI&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv4Kc0mSBsc&feature=related"Come up and see me (Make me smile)" was after the breakup of the original line up and after Harley had tightened the reins even more calling the new line up "
Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel".
He still tours and records. Clubsize gigs in Germany. Saw him last year and the one before. Mysteriously, his always thin hair has regrown too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZO4ZiwzwgyQ&feature=related
