Chester Harriott

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Chester Leroy Harriott (born February 24, 1933 in St. Thomas , Jamaica - † July 4, 2013 ) was a British pianist and singer who was a popular entertainer in England as The Black Liberace in the 1950s .

Chester Harriott was the son of a medical assistant; his mother was a teacher. He grew up in Kingston ; when his parents moved to the United States to continue their studies, he lived with his siblings with relatives. As a child, Chester showed his talent as a pianist and made appearances on the radio, which earned him a scholarship to study in London. From 1950 he studied at Trinity College of Music ; the Jamaican bassist and comedian Arthur Bennett, who led a nightclub band, arranged for him to perform and taught him. He soon appeared as a cocktail pianist and formed a music cabaret style that was based on the entertainer Leslie Hutchinson . This was followed by club appearances with the Jamaican singer Noel Brown and with the grenadier David Pitt in the Mandrake Club in Soho and around 1953 in the lesbian club Gateways with Fats Waller numbers. In Sunset he made a guest appearance with his compatriot Joe Harriott .

After completing his studies, he founded his first piano-singing duo - following the example of the group Layton and Johnstone in the interwar period , first briefly with the baritone John Porter, then successfully with Vic Brown. As Harriott and Evans , they worked with the harmonies of polyphonic vocals on Harriott's piano. In Paris they also appeared with Clifford Brown , Art Farmer and the Lionel Hampton Orchestra; they persuaded Quincy Jones to write some arrangements for their performances. After eight years of working together and an album that was made in Sydney , the duo broke up in 1962 and Harriott began a solo career. After five years he moved to Manchester to work for Granada Television . Among other things, he appeared as a pianist in the 1980s on the television series Crossroads , Wiedersehen in Brideshead and Strangers . In 1985 he opened a restaurant called Truffles , where he performed at night himself. A brain tumor ended his career in the 1990s.

His son Ainsley Harriott (* 1957) is a well-known television presenter in England.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Obituary in The Guardian
  2. ↑ Rebecca Jennings: A Lesbian History of Britain: Love and Sex Between Women Since 1500 . Greenwood World Pub., 2007, p. 136
  3. ↑ The duo consisted of Turner Layton (1894–1978) and Clarence "Tandy" Johnstone
personal data
SURNAME Harriott, Chester
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Harriott, Chester Leroy
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British musician
DATE OF BIRTH February 24, 1933
PLACE OF BIRTH St. Thomas , Jamaica
DATE OF DEATH 4th July 2013
Place of death England