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Alex Harvey
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the Scottish rock singer Alex Harvey, not to be confused with American songwriter Alex Harvey, who wrote for Kenny Rogers, or Canadian drummer Alex Harvey, member of Psychosis and Polk and the Dots.
Alex Harvey (February 5, 1935 - February 4, 1982) was a Scottish rock and roll recording artist. With his Sensational Alex Harvey Band, he built a strong reputation as a live performer during the 1970s glam rock era. The band was renowned for its eclecticism and energetic live performance, Harvey for his charismatic persona and daredevil stage antics.
Alex's younger brother Leslie Harvey was also a musician and became guitarist for Glasgow band Stone the Crows.
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Harvey was born at 49 Govan Road, Kinning Park, Glasgow. His musical roots were in Dixieland jazz and skiffle music, which enjoyed considerable popularity in England and Scotland during the late 1950s. During this period, he won a competition that sought "Scotland's answer to Tommy Steele". Alex Harvey was literally the "last of the teenage idols," a distinction he made much of during his subsequent career - practically worshipped by his fans.
In 1959, Harvey formed "Alex Harvey's Soul Band," and recorded blues and rock and roll material, to modest success. In 1966, Harvey found more success as a member of the cast in the London stage production of the musical Hair. In 1970 he formed Rock Workshop with Ray Russell [1]; their first, self-titled album contained an early version of "Hole In Her Stocking", later to appear on Framed.
In 1972, Harvey formed the Sensational Alex Harvey Band with guitarist Zal Cleminson, bassist Chris Glen, and cousins Ted and Hugh McKenna on drums and keyboards respectively, all previous members of progressive rock act "Tear Gas".
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band (often shortened to SAHB) produced a succession of highly regarded albums and tours throughout the 1970s, and would give Harvey his greatest successes, both musically and commercially.
Initially considered a part of the burgeoning glam-rock movement, Harvey's wild imagination and unusual skiffle background led the band to explore an extremely diverse range of topics and styles in the course of their career, from film-noir ("The Man In The Jar") to surf music-tinted tales of shark attacks ("Shark's Teeth") to ominous odes to demented faith healers ("The Faith Healer") and epic symphonies about witchcraft ("Isobel Gowdie").
Perhaps most unusual for the time were the band's forays into Broadway, evidenced on tracks such as "Tomorrow Belongs To Me", which is of course from Cabaret by Kander and Ebb. Other musical styles explored included the folk music of both Harvey's native Scotland ("Anthem") and countries such as Turkey ("Action Strasse").
The impression is one of an unhinged circus of free-flowing events and emotions and moods, Harvey as its semi-demented, ironic ring master,something captured brilliantly by the cover art of 1974 album "The Impossible Dream".
A strong sense of irony permeates much of the band's work, however Harvey often juxtaposed his absurdist imagery and wild-eyed imagination with sincere moral messages and affectionate unashamed sentiment and emotion.
His live act also usually featured a tale of "Vambo", an urban superhero who was the subject of some of his more energetic numbers. His performances combined a musical and verbal flair with both humour and sincerity and his songs often contained messages and morals.
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band scored chart hits in Britain with the single "Delilah", a re-make of the Tom Jones hit, and also with "The Boston Tea Party".
Alex Harvey was also instrumental in the formation of Stone the Crows, by introducing his younger brother Leslie to singer, Maggie Bell [1].
On February 4, 1982 while waiting to take a ferry back to shore after performing his last concert with his new band, the Electric Cowboys, Harvey suffered a massive heart attack. In an ambulance on the way to the hospital, he suffered a second heart attack, this one fatal. It occurred on the day before his 47th birthday, in Zeebrugge, Belgium.
In 1991, Britny Fox did a cover of the SAHB song "Midnight Moses" on their album Bite Down Hard.
In 2002, a biography of Harvey by John Neil Munro was published: The Sensational Alex Harvey
Since Alex Harvey died in 1982 the band have re-grouped a number of times, but to little success. That is until they decided to call it quits in 2004 with a farewell tour in the UK with "Mad" Max Maxwell (formerly of The Shamen) as lead singer. The tour was sold-out and SAHB released a live album from the tour, having such unexpected success they continued touring. In 2006 they played in front of 20,000 fans at the Sweden Rock Festival (that included other bands such as Alice Cooper, Deep Purple and Whitesnake), and opened for Def Leppard and Cheap Trick at the Apollo in London. The re-grouping has seen the band changing into a more heavy-metal orientated sound, abandoning much of what the band were remembered for in the 70s. In July 2006 they released their first international release in twenty years, the album entitled Zalvation. From the final gig of the 2005 tour in Glasgow, a DVD was produced - also named Zalvation, however it was primarily distributed at performances. In contrast, the final gig of the 2006 tour (also in Glasgow) is rumoured to have been recorded in order to produce an official DVD to be on sale in 2007.
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band were voted the fifth greatest Scottish band of all time in a 2005 survey [2], that had 15,000 participants, reaching higher up the list than Scottish legends such as Runrig, Nazareth, Lulu, Texas and Primal Scream.
The band will be holding their 2nd convention at The Robin 2 Bilston again this year on August 25th for one day only this time[citation needed].
"Mad" Max Maxwell, Zal Cleminson, Hugh McKenna, Ted McKenna and Chris Glen.
- ^ Logan, Nick &Woffinden, Bob (eds.) „The New Musical Express Book of Rock”, W.H. Allen &Co. Ltd (Star), 1973, p. 450. ISBN 0-352-39715-2.
- ^ BBC report on Jan 2005 survey
- Alex Harvey's Soul Band, (1964)
- The Blues, (1964)
- Roman Wall Blues, (1969)
- Joker Is Wild, (1972)
- This Is, (19??)
"Tear Gas" was a band that Zal Cleminson, Ted McKenna and Chris Glen were in. "Tear Gas" was basically "The Sensational Alex Harvey Band" before Alex Harvey joined, David Batchelor was the singer in "Tear Gas". Here is the discogrpahy below.
- Piggy Go Getter (1970)
- Tear Gas (1971)
- Framed (1972)
- Next (1973)
- The Impossible Dream (1974)
- Live (1975)
- Tomorrow Belongs To Me (1975)
- The Penthouse Tapes (1976)
- SAHB Stories (1976)
- Fourplay (1977)
- Rock Drill(1978)
- Zalvation (2006)
- Framed & Next, (2006)
- The Impossible Dream & Tomorrow Belongs To Me, (2006)
- Live & The Penthouse Tapes, (2006)
- SAHB Stories & Rock Drill, (2006)
- Motive, (19??)
- Big Hits And Close Shaves, (1977)
- Alex Harvey Talks About Everything, (1974)
- Alex Harvey Presents: The Loch Ness Monster, (1977)
- The Mafia Stole My Guitar, (1979)
- Soldier On The Wall, (1982)
| Alex Harvey |
|---|
| "Mad" Max Maxwell | Zal Cleminson | Hugh McKenna | Ted McKenna |
| Former Members: Alex Harvey |
| Alex Harvey discography |
| Pre SAHB Albums: Alex Harvey's Soul Band | The Blues | Roman Wall Blues | Joker Is Wild | This Is |
| Tear Gas Albums: Piggy Go Getter | Tear Gas |
| SAHB Albums: Framed | Next | The Impossible Dream | Live | Tomorrow Belongs To Me | The Penthouse Tapes | SAHB Stories | Fourplay | Rock Drill | Zalvation |
| Remastered SAHB Albums: Framed & Next | The Impossible Dream & Tomorrow Belongs To Me | Live & The Penthouse Tapes | SAHB Stories & Rock Drill |
| Post SAHB Albums: Alex Harvey Talks About Everything | Alex Harvey Presents: The Loch Ness Monster | The Mafia Stole My Guitar | Soldier On The Wall |
| All Alex Harvey Bands: Alex Harvey's Soul Band | The Sensational Alex Harvey Band | The Electric Cowboys |
| Related Bands: Tear Gas |