May 3, 1972 – Leslie Cameron “Les” Harvey was born in Glasgow, Scotland on September 13, 1944.
In the early 1960s he was asked to join The Animals by keyboardist Alan Price, but chose to stay with his brother Alex in the Alex Harvey Soul Band. He later joined Blues Council, recording one record, ‘Baby Don’t Look Down’. But when in March 1965 their tour van crashed killing vocalist Fraser Calder and bassist James Giffen, the rest of the band went their separate ways.
Les joined Scottish band Cartoone to record some tracks for their 2nd album, and accompanied Cartoone on their live tour of USA supporting Led Zeppelin. Les and Cartoone were given a standing ovation in Chicago when they supported the US band Spirit in 1969.
John Lee Hooker, whose songs both Harvey and Cartoone used to cover on their tour of the UK, was their opening act. In December 1969 Harvey played guitar on BeeGees Maurice Gibb’s The Loner album, but only the single “Railroad” was released.
Harvey was a co-founder of Stone the Crows in late 1969, the rock/blues band formed in Glasgow, which had previously been known as ‘Power’.
It was while on stage with Stone the Crows at Swansea Top Rank in 1972, on a rainy day with puddles on the stage, that he was electrocuted after touching a microphone that was not earth-grounded. A roadie attempted to unplug the guitar, but was unsuccessful.
He died on May 3, 1972 at the age of 27, making him a somewhat less known member of the 27Club.
