Leslie Harvey
Leslie Harvey (1944 – 1972), brother of 1970s glam rocker Alex Harvey, was a Scottish guitarist who played for a number of bands in the late 1960s and early 1970s, most notably the blues-rock band Stone the Crows, which he had co-founded in 1969. Born in Glasgow, Harvey’s career was full of mishaps and misfortunes, culminating with the final one that took his life.
During the 1960s, Harvey had been asked to join The Animals but turned down the opportunity in order to stay with his brother’s band. The Animals went on to become superstars, with hits that became classics such as House of the Rising Sun, We Gotta Get Out of This Place, and Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood. The gig with his brother’s band did not work out, so Harvey joined another band, Blues Council. However, soon after making their first album, the band’s tour van crashed, killing its lead vocalist and bassist, and the survivors went their separate ways.
In 1969, Harvey co-founded Stone the Crows, which steadily climbed the rock ladder and by 1972 was on the cusp of breaking out, fresh off a successful 1971 album, Teenage Kicks, and managed by Led Zepplin’s legendary Peter Grant. On May 3rd, 1972, the band were preparing for a show before a crowd at the Swansea Ballroom in Swansea, Wales, when Harvey’s bad luck struck one last time.
It was a rainy day, with puddles on the stage, when the unfortunate guitarist came in contact with a poorly grounded microphone to perform a soundcheck while tuning his guitar. Touching the microphone with wet hands, Leslie Harvey was electrocuted to death, live onstage before thousands of horrified onlookers. The band broke up soon thereafter.