IMAGINE the lead singer of a band who, on arriving in the deep south of the USA, announced to black state-troopers that he was planning to perform blacked-up as Al Jolson "in the interests of racial harmony".

ALEX HARVEY'S life was full of contradictions. Offstage, a scrawny wee Glaswegian family man, in front of an audience he became a supreme entertainer, coaxing an often hostile crowd into a reaction. The Sensational Alex Harvey Band could be both rock band and vaudeville troupe, interpreting Jacques Brel or making Tom Jones "Delilah" ooze intrigue and sexuality, eventually becoming one of the best live acts of the seventies.

But behind the showman was a life increasingly beset by tragedy and alcoholism. His younger brother, Les, was electrocuted on stage. His manager and longtime 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.

IMAGINE a rockstar - naked apart from a plastic bag to cover his head - swimming through a lake, walking from the back of the crowd before clambering up on stage just in time to start the first song for thousands of fans. Or a performer who arrived on stage in Germany dressed as Adolf Hitler, before lecturing the huge crowd of German fans on the dangers of fascism.

Alex Harvey did all these things - and more…

ISBN: 0 946719 47 0 Publication: July 2002

224 pages (illustrated). Hardback.

Price UK £20.00 US$30.00

THE SENSATIONAL ALEX HARVEY

John Neil Munro

About the Author

Former freelance journalist for the Glasgow Herald, John Neil Munro has interviewed ex-band members, Harvey's widow and close associates to produce a sympathetic yet harrowing portrait of one of Scotland's finest singers.

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