Petite (4'9") blonde pop vocalist Bev Harrell was one of the
most popular female solo singers in Australia in the late 1960s.
Bev began her career on radio, starting out when she was just
six in the children's radio talent series Kangaroos on Parade in
her hometown of Adelaide, South Australia.
She started performing as a pop vocalist as a hobby in 1965
while she was still at school. She appeared as a guest singer at
Adelaide suburban dances with local bands such as The Harts and
The Vibrants.
In 1966 she joined Barrie McAskill as co-lead singer of the
reformed The Clefs, which was led by Tweed Harris (who
subsequently founded Groove) but when The Clefs relocated to
Melbourne later in the year Bev decided to stay in Adelaide.
Eventually she was spotted by promoter Ron Tremaine who offered
to become her manager. Under his guidance she began to attract
more bookings and soon turned professional.
In the mid 60s Bev moved to Australia's pop mecca, Melbourne,
with her new manager and boyfriend, Adelaide accountant Daryl
Sambell, and she soon became a regular on television pop shows
including Bandstand and Kommotion. After signing with EMI Bev
recorded eight Singles for their HMV label and five for their
Columbia label. Many of Bev's EMI releases were produced by
David Mackay, who also produced Johnny Farnham and The
Twilights.
Her debut single was a cover of "What Am I Doing Here with You?"
(b/w "You Really Didn't Mean It"). The A-side, originally a hit
for Johnny Rivers, was written by singer-songwriter-producer P.F.
Sloan; his pop career went back to the late 1950s and he also
scored major hits as a writer (with partner Steve Barri)
including Barry McGuire's "Eve Of Destruction" and Rivers'
"Secret Agent Man" (which was also inimitably covered by DEVO).
Many of Sloan's songs have been widely covered, including some
done by Australian acts - "Anywhere The Girls Are" was covered
by Ol' 55, Surfin' Craze was covered by The Silhouettes and
"These Are Bad Times (For Me And My Baby)" was covered by The
Groop.
Bev's debut was released in late 1966, and it became a national
Top Ten hit, charting in most cities in January 1967, reaching
#6 in Sydney, #10 in Melbourne, #5 in Brisbane and #1 in Bev's
hometown of Adelaide. It also earned her the prestigious "Best
Australian Female Vocal" award in the 1966 Australian Record
Awards.
As mentioned above, Bev's boyfriend at this the time, Daryl
Sambell, was also her manager. This led to a fateful meeting on
29 April 1967, when Bev performed at a dance in Cohuna in
country Victoria, sharing the bill with a Melbourne band called
Strings Unlimited. Sambell was impressed by the band's lead
singer - he asked for his phone number and told him he could
make him a star.
The young man thought nothing more of it, but a month later
Sambell called and arranged a meeting. As a result, when the
singer's group broke up a few months later, Sambell began
managing him and he went on to become Australia's most
successful male singer - John Farnham.
Meanwhile, Bev's own career had taken off thanks to her hit
single, and she gained considerable exposure as a supporting
artist on tours by international names including Herb Alpert &
The Tijuana Brass, Winifred Atwell, The Rolling Stones and Roy
Orbison.
Like many pop stars at this time, Bev's success led to offers
for commercial product endorsement, and she was hired to promote
the famous Hills Hoist rotary clothes line. Still photos from
this campaign can be found on Bev's website and an excerpt from
a TV ad recently (Aug. 2004) featured in a story on the Hills
Hoist on the ABC-TV social History program Rewind.
Bev scored two more national Top 40 placings among her
subsequent releases. Her second single was a Barry Mann and
Cynthia Weil song "Come On Over To Our Place" (#25 Sydney, #27
Brisbane, #14 Adelaide, March 1967), originally recorded by The
Drifters in 1965 as "Come On Over To My Place". It was followed
by "You Baby" / "You Are The Love of My Life" (June 1967), which
did not chart. During the year EMI also released an EP, Come On
Over To Bev's Place and the LP This Is Bev.
Bev's next single "One in a Million" / "Give Me Time" fared
significantly better, reaching #28 in Sydney, #8 in Brisbane and
#13 in Adelaide in February 1968. The A-side was written by the
hit-making British writing and production duo Jackie Trent &
Tony Hatch. The song was also recorded by (and presumably
written for) Petula Clark -- for whom Trent and Hatch most many
hits - but it appears that Bev's version of the song was in fact
the first to be released - Petula's version was recorded in
March 1967 but was not released as a single until August 1968.
Unfortunately, none of Bev's subsequent EMI Singles made the
charts; they were "Mon Pere" / "At Times Like These" (July
1968), "One Way Ticket" / "I Am the World" (October 1968),
"Everybody Needs Love" / "My Little One" (April 1969) and "The
Looking Glass" / "Yes I'm Ready" (February 1970).
In 1969 and 1970 Bev was one of many Australian female
entertainers who were sent to Vietnam to entertain Australian
troops, along with colleagues such as Pat Kennedy and Anne and
Sue Wills. Their recollections were part of a feature on the
ABC-TV program Dimensions In Time in 2002. A photo of Bev
on-stage at the Australian base in Nui Dat can be seen there.
In 1970, she travelled overseas, and cut a single for the US
Bell label. She toured through Europe, Canada (where Bev had her
own television special "Two New" on Toronto TV), the Caribbean,
South Africa and South East Asia.
In January 1971 in London, Bev released a single on Bell, "Back
To The People" / "Travelling Easy". The single is of interest to
Bee Gees aficionados because the A-side was co-written and the
single produced by Maurice Gibb. According to Bee Gees expert
Joseph Brennan, Bev did not know the Gibbs and was simply
offered the song by their publisher. Later that year, as
England's representative in the 1971 Tokyo World Song Festival,
Bev took out the 'Outstanding Composition and Performance'
award.
Returning to Australia in 1972, she signed to RCA and issued
three singles, "It Was Easy" / "The Right Thing to Do" (June
1973), "Carols by Candlelight" / "You've Got to Save Me"
(October 1973) and "Mon Pere" / I Believe in Music" (March
1974), as well as the 1974 LP I Believe In Music.
Her last single, "Bring Back Those Memories" / "Sing", was
released on the Polydor label. Today, Bev lives back in Adelaide
and continues to work regularly on the musical stage and on the
club and corporate circuit. She was awarded the Order of
Australia (OAM) in 2006.