Harvey Lisberg is a music impresario, who dabbled in sports management too, originally from Manchester U.K. and now living in Palm Springs U.S.A.
Harvey got his first break at the age of 23 by discovering and managing Herman’s Hermits who he quickly got signed-up to EMI / Columbia and with Mickie Most producing their hit songs like “I’m Into Something Good”, “I’m Henry VIII, I Am” and “Mrs. Brown You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter” they spearheaded the so-called ‘British Invasion’ second only to The Beatles.
His next signing was songwriter, Graham Gouldman, who wrote hit songs like “For Your Love” for The Yardbirds, “Tallyman” for Jeff Beck, “Bus Stop” for The Hollies and “No Milk Today” for Herman’s Hermits, to name a few.
In the late 1960’s Harvey Lisberg then signed the unknown Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd-Webber to a development deal and, as Sir Tim Rice later put it, “Harvey was one of the very first to recognise potential in Andrew and myself. He spotted ‘Joseph’ as a winner way before it became one.”
Harvey also took unknown Tony Christie to the stars, personally selecting his signature hit “(Is This The Way To) Amarillo” by Neil Sedaka. In 1972 Harvey sowed the seeds of 10cc by conceiving Sedaka’s second coming who he persuaded to record at their very own Strawberry Studios with session musicians Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley and Lol Creme.
By 1973, no longer content as just session musicians, Lisberg continued to manage their collective talents but as 10cc, scoring international hits such as I’m Not In Love”, “The Things We Do For Love” and “Dreadlock Holiday”.
By the early 1980’s 10cc had broken up, so Lisberg turned his hand to sports management by signing Snooker’s ‘bad boys’ Jimmy White and Alex Higgins. Lisberg later oversaw the pairing of Graham Gouldman with Andrew Gold who formed Wax with some success in the U.K. and the U.S.A.
In the 1990’s Lisberg relocated to Palm Springs in California and by the turn of the millennium he was consulting to Indian Wells Tennis Garden after spotting the opportunity to use the state-of-the-art arena to stage big music events when he brought stadium acts like The Eagles, Tom Petty, The Who, Luis Miguel and others to the California Desert for the very first time.
Image Credit: Harvey Lisberg, by Lol Creme
