Quick Facts
Biography
Harvey Shield (born Harvey Schildkraut, September 6, 1946) is an English musician and songwriter. He was born in Twickenham and grew up in Wembley.
He was a drummer in the Cadet Pipe Band at Harrow County School, where he met Roger Glover. They formed a beat group, the Madisons, in which Harvey played drums and sang. In 1965 the group became known as Episode Six with Ian Gillan as lead singer. While with Episode Six Harvey recorded six singles for Pye Records, appeared on Ready Steady Go!, and toured with Alan Price and Dusty Springfield. In 1966 Episode Six performed at the Casino du Liban in Beirut, Lebanon where he met Greek dancer and singer, Natasha Koumianou. In September, 1967 he left the band to pursue a career with her. Later, Roger and Ian left the band to join Deep Purple.
Natasha and Harvey's cabaret career began in Paris where they recorded a single for Disques Vogue. They toured throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa until 1974 and performed aboard the ill-fated cruise ship, Achille Lauro.
In 1975 Harvey moved to Los Angeles, California where he wrote and recorded the song The Way I Feel Tonight. He signed a recording contract with Atco Records who released the single under the name Shields in 1977. The song went on to become a worldwide hit for the Scottish group, The Bay City Rollers in 1978.
In 1985 his musical Hamelin: A Musical Tale from Rats to Riches written with Richard Jarboe, was produced off-Broadway at the Circle in the Square Theatre in Greenwich Village, New York following initial productions at the Olio, Los Angeles and Musical Theater Works, New York.
In 1986 he formed The Mighty Echoes, an a cappella Doo Wop quartet, which has recorded five albums and continues to perform. They have been seen on stage, film and television in shows such as Who's The Boss?, Murphy Brown, Family Matters, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia.
As a movie actor he serenaded Debra Winger in Wilder Napalm (1993), negotiated with Pamela Anderson in Barb Wire (1996), and played a coke-snorting Brit in Crazy Eyes (2012).
In 2015 he was cast as famous rock drummer, Keith Edwards, in the Disney TV series I Didn't Do It.