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{{short description|Australian musician, composer and conductor (1935–2019)}}{{other people5|Jeffrey Harvey (disambiguation)}}{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2019}}{{Use Australian English|date=February 2019}}

factoids

| image = Geoff Harvey.jpg| caption = Harvey in 2018| alt = Geoff Harvey playing piano at the Gibraltar Hotel, Bowral on Christmas Day 2018| birth_name = Geoffrey John Harvey19356|df=yes}}| birth_place = London, England, United Kingdom20193008df=yes}}Gold Coast, Queensland>Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia| death_cause = | education = | employer = PianistConductor|Television Personality}}| years_active = 1961–2018The Mike Walsh Show'Midday (Australian TV program)>Midday'The Don Lane ShowCarols by Candlelight

• Penny Spence
• {{marriage|Katrina Harvey|1987|2019{edih}

}}| partner = | parents = | children = 3weblink}}| awards = }}Geoffrey John Harvey {{Post-nominals|OAM|country=AUS}} (6 August 1935 – 30 March 2019WEB,weblink Geoff Harvey, 2006, WebsterWorld,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20181226055302weblink">weblink 26 December 2018, dead, 26 December 2018, WEB,weblink Nine's musical maestro Geoff Harvey dies aged 83, 30 March 2019, News.com.au, 30 March 2019, ) was an English-Australian musician, pianist, conductor, musical director and television personality who worked at the Australian Nine Network for 38 years. Known primarily for his appearances on The Mike Walsh Show and Midday, Harvey also composed a number of the theme songs for the network's programs.

Early life

Harvey was born on 6 August 1935 in London, England,WEB,weblink Geoff Harvey, 2008, Trove, National Library of Australia, 27 December 2018, and lived through the Blitz during the Second World War.INTERVIEW, Harvey, Geoff, Bill Crews (minister), Bill Crews, An Interview with Geoff Harvey,weblink Sunday Nights with Bill Crews, Macquarie Media, 16 July 2017, He was born into a musical family: his father played the fiddle while his mother was a piano player. Harvey began playing piano and the organ at the age of six and when he was eight he began playing at his local Catholic church. By age 14, he was playing in Westminster Cathedral. His first job was as a saxophonist in a band at the Round Towers Irish Club in Holloway Road, North London as a 15-year-old.NEWS, Jackie, Meyers, Geoff Harvey's first job,weblink Southern Highland News, Fairfax Media, 16 August 2010, 27 December 2018, live,weblink 20 June 2016, After completing his education and national service he began playing in jazz clubs across Europe.

Nine Network

Harvey came to Australia in the early 1960s to join EMI Records, then part of HMV, producing records for the label with Bryan Davies.MAGAZINE, International News Report,weblink Billboard (magazine), Billboard Music Week, 24 February 1962, 23, He was only due to stay in the country for a year but decided to remain, finding work in the new medium of television. Harvey joined the Nine Network in 1961 working on Bob Rogers' Tonight Show. In 1963, he was appointed the musical director of Tonight with Dave Allen and then worked on The John Laws Show, Tonight Show with Charlie Brill and Mitzi McCall, Bandstand, Barry Crocker's Sound of Music and The Don Lane Show.MAGAZINE, Laurie, Dee, Musician... practical joker... funster... That's Geoff Harvey!,weblink The Australian Women's Weekly, 31 August 1977, 31, Trove, His most prominent role was as the musical director of The Mike Walsh Show. and its successor Midday During the program's run he employed three bands which were rotated week to week. A firm advocate of live music on television, he often battled with the management of the network. During his time at Nine, he composed the theme songs for A Current Affair, Today, Sunday and The Sullivans,WEB, Top 10 Aussie TV Themes,weblink televisionau.com, 14 November 2014, 29 December 2018, live,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20171225200714weblink">weblink 25 December 2017, the latter being originally composed for the wedding of his first wife's cousin.From 1984 to 2002, Harvey was also the musical director of Carols by Candlelight in Melbourne at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl before his successor John Foreman took over in 2003.REPORT, Vision Australia's Carols by Candlelight Souvenir Program 2012,weblink Carols by Candlelight, 13, 2012,

Post television career

Following the cancellation of Midday, Harvey was sacked from Nine after 38 years on 6 May 1999.NEWS, When loyalty means nought,weblink The Courier-Mail, 27 April 1999, 29 December 2018, He appeared briefly on Sydney radio station 2GB alongside Kerri-Anne Kennerley in 2000.In 1998, Harvey was appointed as the joint patron of the Mo Awards alongside Tommy Tycho who had been sole patron since 1981. They both continued in this role until 2005, with Harvey also serving as chairman in 1998 and from 2000 to 2002.WEB, History of the Board of Directors of the Australian Entertainment 'MO' Awards Inc.,weblink Australian Entertainment 'MO' Awards Inc., dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20170814202537weblink">weblink 14 August 2017, Harvey returned to studying in 2002, receiving his Associate in Music, Australia in organ in 2004 from the Australian Music Examinations Board and four years later his licentiate from Trinity College London. In October 2008, Harvey donated to the National Library of Australia his collection of 5,000 original arrangements and in 2011, he began teaching music in his studio at home.NEWS, Music maestro ready to teach,weblink Southern Highland News, Fairfax Media, 2 February 2011, 28 December 2018, live,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20150809073513weblink">weblink 9 August 2015, In 2017, Harvey still performed in live theatre, taking to the stage to play piano in his comedy revue Senior Moments with Lex Marinos, Benita Collings and John Derum.NEWS, Harvey hits centre stage to tinkle ivories,weblink The Senior, Fairfax Media, 6 January 2017, 27 December 2018, live,weblink 27 December 2018,

Awards

Harvey was a recipient of the Medal of the Order of Australia during the 2006 Queen's Birthday Honours for "service to the community as a musician and entertainer, and through support for charitable organisations".WEB, Geoffrey John Harvey,weblink Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (Australia), Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, 27 December 2018, Harvey was a patron for ConnecTeD (Friends of the Connective Tissue Dysplasia, Children's Hospital at Westmead), from 1992.WEB, Medal (OAM) of the Order of Australia in the General Division,weblink Official Secretary to the Governor-General of Australia, June 2006, 242, WEB, Connected Ball,weblink Short Statured People of Australia NSW and ACT Branch, 6 September 2008, 27 December 2018,

Personal life

Known as a practical joker and for making "wild bets", he grew a beard as a result of losing a 1965 bet to Don Lane on a football match.Harvey married fellow television personality Penny Spence and they had two children together: Eugenie in 1968MAGAZINE, Nan, Musgrove, A question of Eugenie's nose,weblink The Australian Women's Weekly, 13 November 1968, 15, Trove, and Charlotte two years later. They lived together in the Sydney suburb of Epping.MAGAZINE, Diane, McDonald, House of the Week,weblink The Australian Women's Weekly, 10 April 1974, 64–65, 67, Trove, He lived in the village of Berrima in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales with his second wife of {{age|format=raw|1987}} years, Katrina. Katrina also worked at Nine as the long-time personal assistant to executive Sam Chisholm.NEWS, Bull at a gate,weblink The Sydney Morning Herald, Fairfax Media, 9 June 2005, 27 December 2018, live,weblink 27 December 2018, He died on the Gold Coast in March 2019, aged 83.

Discography

Studio albums{| class"wikitable plainrowheaders" style"text-align:center;" border"1"|+ List of albums, with selected chart positions

! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:20em;" | Title! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:16em;" | Album details! scope="col" colspan="1" | Peak chartpositions! scope="col" style="text-align:center;" | AUSBOOK, Kent, David, David Kent (historian), Australian Chart Book 1970–1992, illustrated, Australian Chart Book, St Ives, N.S.W., 1993, 0-646-11917-6, 135, RYAN, 91, ! scope="row" | Playing Favourites (And The Midday Show Band)|

• Released: 1987
• Format: LP, CD
• Label: Priority (RML-53246) 79

! scope="row" | Maestro and the Music Man|

• Released: 1997
• Format: CD
• Label: BMG (74321-56290-2) 58

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

• {{Official websiteweblink}}
• {{IMDb name|id=0367526}}

{{Authority control}}