Harvey and the Wallbangers
| Harvey and the Wallbangers | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Cambridge, UK |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 1980 – 1987 |
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| Past members |
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Harvey and the Wallbangers were an 80's jazz vocal harmony group, playing major festivals and the main Concert Halls in Europe and the UK, such as the Royal Albert Hall, Sadlers Wells, The Forum, Ronnie Scotts and the Berlin Tempodrom. The group also appeared on the Royal Variety Show and scores of other television programmes including "Wogan", "Russell Harty" and "Carrott's Lib".
Harvey and the Wallbangers recorded four albums on their own label (Hubbadots) and also a Jazz CD with Simon Rattle.
Cambridge has a reputation for producing some of the UK’s most exciting and eclectic groups and in the 1970’s Telephone Bill and the Smooth Operators (TBSO) were performing their original blend of folk/country/swing music at festivals across the UK.
In 1981 their front man, Nick Barraclough, approached Harvey Brough (a music scholar from Clare College, Cambridge) to produce some string arrangements for a gig they were doing at the Cambridge Arts Theatre. In return Nick promised to do a concert at Clare College, in memory of Harvey’s brother Lester, who had been killed in a motor cycle accident. At that concert, Harvey’s barbershop quartet also performed and the evening was such a hit that Nick invited the quartet to accompany TBSO to perform with them at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (August 1981).
The following year the group also supported TBSO at the ADC Theatre Cambridge, which was followed by further gigs in Battersea and Buxton. The Wallbangers now included the long term personnel Jonny Griffiths (who had been studying at Clare college with Harvey) and Jeremy Taylor (a choral scholar from St Catharine's College, Cambridge). The rest of the group were made up of Chris Cox (the bass player with TBSO), bass singer Russell Watson, the vocalist (and actor) Brian Shelley and pianist John Miller (who later went on to play with Van Morrison).
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