The Sensational Alex Harvey - Softcover

John Neil Munro

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1846970881 ISBN 13: 9781846970887

Publisher: Polygon (An Imprint of Birlinn Limited), 2019

Synopsis

Glasgow-born Alex Harvey's career began in the 1950s when he won a competition to become Scotland's answer to Tommy Steele (he dubbed himself 'Last of the Teenage Idols'). He was a devoted family man but in front of an audience he became an unforgettable entertainer - charismatic, provocative and intense. "The Sensational Alex Harvey Band" eventually became one of the most exciting live acts of the 1970s - taking in Jacques Brel, rock and vaudeville.

But Harvey's life offstage was beset by tragedy and his own alcoholism: his younger brother, Les, was electrocuted on stage; his manager and friend Billy Fehilly was killed in a plane crash. Eventually with his band in tatters, Alex sank into a sea of alcohol, finally succumbing to a fatal heart attack whilst waiting for a ferry home from a gig in Belgium in 1982, the day before his 47th birthday.

About this title

Review:

'A detailed, enjoyable and admirably honest account of Harvey's life and work...Munro is able to correct some minor errors which the Chinese whisper nature of rock biography had previously led myself and others to repeat.' RECORD COLLECTOR

About the Author:

John Neil Munro lives in Laxdale, Isle of Lewis. He studied Modern and Economic history at Glasgow University then completed a postgraduate journalism course in Cardiff. Other publications include Some People are Crazy: The John Martyn Story (Polygon, 2008). He has a great affection for unfashionable 1970s rock music.

About this edition

• Publisher: Polygon (An Imprint of Birlinn Limited)
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1846970881
• ISBN 13: 9781846970887
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 256