John Neil Munro - The Sensational Alex Harvey

(All photographs unless otherwise stated are from Trudy Harveys collection)

In December 1975, Glasgows disaffected youth had more than their fair share of reasons for feeling disillusioned with life. The weather was awful, Scotlands national football team was underachieving again and the economy was in a complete shambles. Unemployment was soaring and house prices were rocketing. Harold Wilsons Labour Government was under fire from both the Left and the Right, and the Cod War was raging in Iceland. To add to the sense of foreboding, Margaret Thatcher had just arrived on the political scene and the Black and White Minstrel Show was the main draw on television. It hardly seemed to be the season of good cheer.

But in the week before Christmas, the citys youngsters found some salvation from their troubles at the Glasgow Apollo theatre, a ramshackle old concert venue on Renfield Street in the city centre. For three consecutive nights, the hall seemed to shake to its foundations as it hosted a series of festive parties to welcome home the citys favourite son. Those lucky enough to have been there swear to this day that those were some of the greatest concerts ever staged at the legendary Apollo.

As the house lights dimmed and 3,600 voices let loose a primeval roar, an army of longhaired, denim and leather-clad kids rose to their feet. While the band coiled up the tension with a dark pulsing beat, a small, middle-aged man decked out in a maroon smoking jacket, a hooped T-shirt, blue denim jeans and a pair of cowboy boots stalked to the centre of the stage. After a seemingly interminable wait, the spotlight shone on the wee man and with a sweet smile he started to speak to the crowd: Good evening, boys and girls, my name is Alexander and it really is a gas to be here. I would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to my band, The Sensational Alex Harvey Band. The audience fired up on a combination of booze and hash suddenly forgot any pretence to decorum. For the next two hours it was going to be party time their Faith Healer was back in town.

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In the winter of 1975, Alex Harvey was at the peak of his powers. Music critics used to say that Alex served the longest apprenticeship in rock n roll history. It dragged on through almost two decades, during which the working-class boy from Thistle Street in the Gorbals must have despaired of ever making the tantalising leap from the dancehalls of Scotland to the national record charts. Alex once had the modest childhood ambition of becoming a post-office clerk until one of his uncles did the world of music a favour and bought him a guitar. Gradually his love of music came to become the most important thing in his young life and he saw it as a way of escaping from the rat-infested tenements of the Gorbals.

Many people will only know of Alex through his Sensational Alex Harvey Band (SAHB) in fact they only took up about a fifth of a career that lasted over 26 years. His musical career predated Presley, and as rock n roll matured so did Alex Harvey. Soaking up all the strands of the 1950s music scene, Alex soon earned a legendary reputation in his native Glasgow as a charismatic performer. On a constant round of dance-hall gigs, in a variety of bands of varying abilities he would belt out an electrifying blend of blues, country, skiffle, jazz and rock n roll. In 1957, he even won a Scottish newspaper talent contest to find the new Tommy Steele!

Along the way he sometimes drifted out of the music business, disillusioned by being ripped off by just about every money-grabbing manipulator around. He also suffered more than enough in the way of personal heartache and tragedy. In the 1970s, Alex lost his younger brother and his best friend both dying in the most awful of circumstances.

Over the decades, Alex noted every passing musical trend from Gene Autrey through Bob Dylan and The Beatles to Slade and the Sex Pistols. Alex learnt from them all but never became too closely associated with any one style he always had enough class and originality to stand apart from the crowd.

And by the early 1970s, at long last, he had made it and he was loving every minute of it. He had found the perfect band, four talented West of Scotland musicians who would power him to the top. They were guys who could indulge his tastes in blistering hard rock, jazz, blues, country and even vaudeville. His new band wouldnt miss a beat even when Alex spiced up the set with cover versions of everything from Jacques Brel to Alice Cooper via The Osmonds and Del Shannon. For record company executives, the SAHBs eclectic approach was a nightmare to market, but for everyone else it was just great fun.

For five glorious years, The Sensational Alex Harvey Band tore up the rock n roll rulebook. They chalked up hit singles together with critically acclaimed albums, and built what seemed like a large and ultra-loyal record-buying fan base. But it was up on stage where Alex was really most at home. A gentle guy away from the limelight, in concert he was transformed mesmerising his audience with a bizarre series of personae and a groundbreaking stage set. Its too easily forgotten that during the mid 1970s the SAHB regularly beat groups like Pink Floyd and Genesis when fans voted for their favourite live act.

When Harvey was on stage performing, anything could happen.

Imagine the lead singer of a band dressed as Tarzan, swinging on a rope into the audience to haul an unsuspecting female back up on stage just for a dance. Think of a rock star naked apart from a plastic bag to cover his head swimming through a lake before clambering up on stage just in time to start the first song for thousands of fans. Imagine a performer who would have the nerve to dress as Adolf Hitler and then lecture a huge crowd of German fans about the dangers of Fascism or who would want to go onstage blacked up as Al Jolson at a concert in Americas Deep South. Visualise a rock band arriving on stage at a massive festival in Belgium all sitting aboard a 3.75-ton Bren Gun carrier which they had commandeered from the set of a Richard Attenborough film. Can you think of a modern-day musician who would re-enact the crucifixion live on stage wearing a crown made out of real barbed wire which would leave his forehead soaked in blood?