BIOGRAPHY
Alex Harvey was born February 5, 1935, in Glasgow, growing
up in Kinning Park . After leaving school at 15, he tackled a
wide variety of professions, including lion tamer, before turning
to music in 1954.
Playing with a number of different Dixieland and jazz ensembles
honed his musical skills, enough that in 1956 Harvey was touted
as Scotland's answer to British teen idol Tommy Steele. Following
the brief notoriety gained in that newspaper competition, he began
covering Big Bill Broonzy and Jimmie Rogers tunes in the skiffle
craze then sweeping the U.K.
By 1959 Harvey was fronting his own group, the Alex Harvey
Soul Band, also known as Alex Harvey's Big Soul Band. With this
incarnation Harvey gained regional fame, playing regular gigs
in Edinburgh as well as Glasgow. Residency at the famous Top Ten
Club in Hamburg, Germany, garnered the band a recording contract
with Polydor Records and the release of Alex Harvey and His Soul
Band, a live album, in 1963. Around this time a number of singles
recorded for various German club owners were also released, lapsing
into almost immediate obscurity.
By 1965 he'd gone solo, teaming up with his brother Les to
record an album, The Blues. Returning to Glasgow in 1966, the
brothers teamed with local musicians to form the short-lived Blues
Council. After that group disintegrated, Alex Harvey briefly fell
into the psychedelic band Giant Moth, a gig that landed him steadier
work in the backup band for the London production of Hair.
Another solo release in 1969, Roman Wall Blues, failed to
gain him the recognition he sought. With his career rapidly declining,
Harvey lucked into a fortuitous discovery -- Glasgow prog rockers
Tear Gas. Together, they morphed into the Sensational Alex Harvey
Band in 1972. A pair of U.K. hit singles, 1975's Delilah (a quirky
remake of Tom Jones' 1968 hit) and 1976's Boston Tea Party, helped
propel the Sensational Alex Harvey Band into one of the most sought-after
international headline acts.
Recurring back problems exacerbated by his physically demanding
stage antics forced Harvey to announce, in October 1977, his retirement
from full-time rock 'n' roll. Following a rare European tour,
Harvey was stricken in Zeebruggen, Belgium, with a fatal heart
attack. Rock lost one of its most enigmatic and original proponents
on February 4, 1982, the day before Alex Harvey would have turned
47.
I like to thank Lori Reed of the Online
Memorial to The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
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Also : Wade McDaniel of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band
Home Page.
For the photo,s and Biography and for keeping the
memory alive
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