In 1991, Steve Harley played the Greenbelt Arts Festival at Castle Ashby in Northamptonshire. Greenbelt had it roots in the Christian music scene, and for some Steve was a surprisingly inclusion. For others – who wanted to check your faith credentials at the door, he perhaps shouldn’t have been there.

He chided the audience jokingly about why they had not been in church this morning instead of hanging around in a field in Northampton. What they hadn’t realised was that at the time Mr Harley was warden at the church he was part of in his home neighbourhood.

Steve suffered with polio as an infant and as a child spent at least 4 long periods in hospital. This hobbled him physically, but it gave him room to develop his love of words and to develop his art.

By the time the Seventies came around with his quirky voice and image, he was set for success. Whilst hardly “glam” he fitted those times well. He was a good friend of Marc Bolan’s and was party to some of the excesses of the era. And the hits came. Whilst everyone will remember him for “Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)”, there was also “Judy Teen”, “Mr Soft”, “Mr Raffles (Man, it was mean)”, a cover of George Harrison’s / The Beatles, “Here Comes the Sun” and several others. Peculiarly, his was the voice on the studio recording of “The Phantom of the Opera” opposite Sarah Brightman before passing the baton to some bloke called Crawford.

There were also big hit albums like “Psychomodo” and “The Best Years of our Lives”.

He married his wife, Dorothy in 1981 in a register office, but by their 10th anniversary they were ready to renew their vows in church. They had 2 children, Greta and Kerr.

Our paths only crossed on a couple of occasions, but he was generous with his time. He remained a “reader” during services in his church, and like one of his heroes, Bob Dylan he loved to search the Scriptures in the quiet. He avoided what he described as the “happy-clappy scene” preferring to sit in a building with beautiful architecture to think his faith through. It was not difficult, in my experience, to draw him on to this theme.

Last year, I considered approaching him to play an acoustic show at my theatre, Ravenscourt Arts. However, a quick look on the internet showed that he already had dates in the diary. Some of those dates didn’t happen because of his health. Now he will never come this way – which is a shame, it would have been fun.

It seems likely that the song “Make Me Smile (Come up and See Me)” will never go away. Last I checked it had charted on at least four occasions over a thirty year period. Back in 1991, at Greenbelt some wondered who this guy was. Ironically, his profile became higher again later.

He leaves his music with us. His faith in God and the Scriptures will travel with him as he moves along.