Ghostface Killah

In a 2000 episode of SNL, Ana Gasteyr in character as Martha Stewart proclaimed that she was cutting her ties as spokesperson for K-Mart because the chain had refused to stock the latest album by her "homie" Ghostface Killah. Harley now presents a show on BBC Radio 2 called The Sounds of the Seventies. Though Ghostface has had little mainstream success musically, he has managed to make something of an impression on mainstream pop culture, similarly to his groupmates ODB and Method Man. After a brief appearance in the 1980s with a song from Andrew Lloyd-Webber's The Phantom of the Opera, Steve began touring again with his old Cockney rebel songs in the late 80s and 90s. He also appeared on the track "On My Knees" by UK R&B group The 411 which became a hit in the UK and Australia, and released an album titled 718 with a group of his proteges, calling themselves The Theodore Unit. He made a minor comeback in 1979 as a solo artist in the UK singles chart with the Tamla Motown-inspired Freedom's Prisoner which bubbled under the Top 50. In April of 2004, The Pretty Toney Album was released on Def Jam; it featured collaborations with Missy Elliott and Jadakiss and was Ghostface's first album to be credited to "Ghostface" rather than "Ghostface Killah". From then on, Steve Harley struggled to match that success, and the band faded away.

He had another minor club hit with "Flowers" which featured guest vocals from fellow Wu-Tang members Method Man and Raekwon. This included the track Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me) which would go on to be a number one single and the band's biggest hit. Ghostface wasted little time in recording his next album, the heavily R&B-influenced Bulletproof Wallets which was released a year after Supreme Clientele. In 1974, a further album, The Best Years of Our Lives was made, produced by Beatles producer Alan Parsons. "Cherchez La Ghost", a single off the album, became a minor club hit, and the sentimental "Child's Play" brought Ghostface numerous comparisons with Slick Rick. From then on, the band was a band in name only, being more or less a Steve Harley solo project. His follow-up to Ironman was Supreme Clientele in 2000 (see 2000 in music), which was critically acclaimed by both mainstream critics and hip hop enthusiasts. An appearance on Top of the Pops by the group in fact largely consisted of session musicians drafted in for the show.

Ghostface became well-known for both his uptempo, seemingly indecipherable stream-of-consciousness raps and, later in his career, for his very emotionally charged delivery (first seen on the Wu-Tang Clan track "Impossible"). By this time the problems within the band had already reached a head, and most of the band with the exception of Stuart Elliot quit. His first solo LP was Iron Man in 1996 (see 1996 in music), which was successful in hip hop circles and debuted at #2 on the pop charts. The band were voted the "Most Outstanding New Act" of 1974. As a solo artist, he first appeared on Only Built 4 Cuban Linx (with clan-mate Raekwon, 1995, see 1995 in music), then on the soundtracks to Sunset Park and Don't Be A Menace To South Central While Drinking Your Juice In The Hood. Soft, was also a big hit. He also goes by the alias of Tony Starks, the real identity of super hero Iron Man. A second single from the album, Mr.