Harvey Shield (born Harvey Schildkraut; 6 September 1946) is an English musician, songwriter and actor.

Early life

Shield was born in

Twickenham Twickenham ( ) is a suburban district of London, England, on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historic counties of England, Historically in Middlesex, since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, who ...

, London, England, and grew up in

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

. Shield was a drummer in the Cadet Pipe Band at Harrow County School, where he met

Roger Glover Roger David Glover (born 30 November 1945) is a Welsh bassist, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as a member of the hard rock bands Deep Purple and Rainbow. As a member of Deep Purple, Glover was inducted into the Rock and Roll ...

. They formed a beat group, the Madisons, in which Shield played drums and sang. In 1963 the Madisons merged with another school group, the Lightnings, and in 1964 the group became known as

Episode Six Episode Six, Episode 6 or Episode VI may refer to: Film * ''Return of the Jedi'' also known as ''Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi'', a 1983 film Music * Episode Six (band), a British band Television episodes * Episode 6 (All of Us Are ...

Career

Music

Following a residency at the Acadia Club in Frankfurt, Germany in April, 1965

Ian Gillan Ian Gillan (born 19 August 1945) is an English singer who is best known as the lead singer and lyricist for the rock band Deep Purple. He is known for his powerful and wide-ranging singing voice. Initially influenced by Elvis Presley, Gillan ...

joined the group as lead singer. While with Episode Six, Shield recorded six singles for

Pye Records PYE or Pye Records is an independent British record label. It was first established in 1955 and played a major role in shaping rock 'n' roll and pop music history. The Pye name was dropped in 1980 due to trademark issues, after which it produced ...

, appeared on ''

Ready Steady Go! ''Ready Steady Go!'' (or ''RSG!'') was a British rock/pop music television programme broadcast every Friday evening from 9 August 1963 until 23 December 1966. It was conceived by Elkan Allan, head of Rediffusion TV. Allan wanted a light ente ...

'' and toured with

Alan Price Alan Price (born 19 April 1942) is an English musician who first found prominence as the original keyboardist of the English rock band the Animals. He left the band in 1965 to form the Alan Price Set; his hit singles with and without the group ...

and

Dusty Springfield Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien (16 April 1939 – 2 March 1999), better known by her stage name Dusty Springfield, was a British singer. With her distinctive mezzo-soprano voice, she was a popular singer of blue-eyed soul, Pop mus ...

. In 1966 Episode Six performed at the

Casino du Liban Casino du Liban (; ) is a casino located in Jounieh, Lebanon, 22 km north of Beirut. The casino is managed by London Clubs International, a subsidiary of Caesars Entertainment. With an area of about 35,000 square meters, the casino has ar ...

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, Glover and Gillan left the band to join

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock, although their musical style has varied throughout their career. Originally for ...

. Koumianou and Shield's cabaret career began in Paris, where they recorded a single, "Honey", written by Shield, for Disques Vogue and continued performing until 1974 at nightclubs throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa and aboard the ill-fated cruise ship, MS ''Achille Lauro''. In 1975, Shield moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, where he wrote and recorded the song " The Way I Feel Tonight". In 1976, he signed with

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

and his recording of the song was released on the

Atco Records ATCO Records is an American record label founded in 1955. It is owned by Warner Music Group and operates as an imprint of Atlantic Records. After several decades of dormancy and infrequent activity under alternating Warner Music labels, the com ...

label, credited to Shields, in 1977. The recording failed to make an impact commercially, but the song went on to become a worldwide hit for the

Bay City Rollers The Bay City Rollers are a Scottish pop rock band known for their worldwide teen idol popularity, as a band in the 1970s. One of many 70s acts heralded as the "biggest group since the Beatles", they were called the "tartan teen sensations fro ...

in 1978. In 1985, Shield's musical ''Hamelin: A Musical Tale from Rats to Riches'' written with Richard Jarboe and Matthew Wells, was produced

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

at the

Circle in the Square Theatre The Circle in the Square Theatre is a Broadway theater at 235 West 50th Street, within the basement of Paramount Plaza, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York, U.S. The current Broadway theater, completed in 1972, i ...

in Greenwich Village, New York following initial productions at the Olio in Los Angeles and Musical Theater Works in New York. In 1986, Shield formed

The Mighty Echoes The Mighty Echoes are an American a cappella doo-wop quartet from Los Angeles, California. The group was formed backstage at the Olio Theater in Silverlake, California during the production of Harvey Shield's 1986 musical ''1284: The Pied Pip ...

, 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? ''Who's the Boss?'' is an American sitcom television series created by Martin Cohan and Blake Hunter, that aired on ABC from September 20, 1984, to April 25, 1992, with a total of 196 half-hour episodes spanning eight seasons. It was produce ...

'', ''

Murphy Brown ''Murphy Brown'' is an American television sitcom created by Diane English that premiered on November 14, 1988, on CBS. The series stars Candice Bergen as the eponymous Murphy Brown, a famous investigative journalist and news presenter, news anch ...

'', ''

Family Matters ''Family Matters'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on ABC for eight seasons from September 22, 1989, to May 9, 1997, then moved to CBS for its ninth and final season from September 19, 1997, to July 17, 1998. A spin-of ...

'', ''

The Suite Life of Zack & Cody ''The Suite Life of Zack & Cody'' is an American teen sitcom created by Danny Kallis and Jim Geoghan. The series aired on Disney Channel from March 18, 2005, to September 1, 2008. The series was nominated twice for the Primetime Emmy Award for ...

'' and ''

It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'', also known colloquially simply as ''Always Sunny'', is an American sitcom created by Rob McElhenney and co-developed by Glenn Howerton for FX (TV channel), FX. It premiered on August 4, 2005, and stars Charl ...

''. In 2019 Shield co-founded the Los Angeles-based Old Man Dinner Band with Pete Thomas.

Acting

As a movie actor, Shield serenaded

Debra Winger Debra Lynn Winger (born May 16, 1955) is an American actress. She starred in the films '' An Officer and a Gentleman'' (1982), '' Terms of Endearment'' (1983), and '' Shadowlands'' (1993), each of which earned her a nomination for the Academy Awa ...

in ''

Wilder Napalm ''Wilder Napalm'' is a 1993 American dark fantasy romantic comedy film directed by Glenn Gordon Caron, written by Vince Gilligan, and starring Debra Winger, Dennis Quaid, and Arliss Howard. The screenplay concerns a pair of pyrokinetic brot ...

'' (1993), negotiated with

Pamela Anderson Pamela Denise Anderson (born July 1, 1967) is a Canadian-American actress, model and media personality. She rose to prominence after being selected as the February 1990 ''Playboy'' Playmate of the Month. She went on to make regular appearan ...

in ''

Barb Wire file:Barbed Wire Roll.jpg, Roll of modern agricultural barbed wire Barbed wire, also known as barb wire or bob wire (in the Southern United States, Southern and Southwestern United States), is a type of steel fencing wire constructed with sharp ...

'' (1996), and played a coke-snorting Brit in '' Crazy Eyes'' (2012). In 2015, Shield was cast as "legendary" rock drummer, Keith Edwards, in the Disney TV series '' I Didn't Do It.''

Filmography

Film

Television

References

*Frame, Pete (1979) ''Rock Family Trees''. Music Sales Corporation, *Warner, Jay (2006) ''American Singing Groups: A History from 1940 to Today''. Hal Leonard Corporation, pp. 557–558. . * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shield, Harvey 1946 births Living people Actors from the London Borough of Brent Actors from the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames English male songwriters English rock drummers Episode Six (band) members Male actors from London Musicians from the London Borough of Brent Musicians from the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames People from Twickenham People from Wembley