Paul Harvey

Born in Stoke-on-Trent, Paul Harvey is an English composer, music teacher, and one of the few people in the world who can claim to have scored a hit single at 80 years old. A classically-trained musician, Harvey studied piano at the Guildhall School of Music and went on to become a concert pianist, appearing on the BBC Home Service in 1964 before eventually moving on to teaching right after the birth of his eldest son. Boasting an impressive 20-year tenure at the Imberhorne School in East Grinstead, Harvey’s “Rumba Toccata” is still used to this day in grade 6 piano exams. A fall-related accident in 2015 triggered a cognitive decline that gradually evolved into dementia as Harvey had to be moved into sheltered accommodation. Five years later, inspired by one of Harvey’s old party tricks, his son Nick encouraged him to improvise a tune based on four random notes and recorded the two-minute performance. The video soon went viral on Twitter and was picked up by Radio 4’s Broadcasting House, where someone suggested the song should be played by an orchestra. Recorded with the help of the BBC Philharmonic, the single “Four Notes - Paul’s Tune” (2020) went straight to the top of the streaming charts and peaked at Number 32 on the UK Singles Chart.

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