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Vanity of vanities; all is vanity... Kohelet 1:2 |
Harvey Goldsmith CBE (born 4 May 1946 in Edgware, Middlesex) is a British performing arts promoter. He is best known as promoter of rock concerts, charity concerts, television broadcasts for the Prince's Trust and more recently the Teenage Cancer Trust shows at the Royal Albert Hall.
During early 2007 he appeared on the Channel 4 programme Get Your Act Together with Harvey Goldsmith. In October the same year he promoted a reunion concert for surviving members of Led Zeppelin in memory of Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegün, which was held at The O2 Arena.
Harvey Goldsmith has produced, managed and promoted shows with most of the world's major artists including; Andrea Bocelli, Muse (band), Genesis, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Bruce Springsteen, Santana, Led Zeppelin, The Eagles, Luciano Pavarotti, Sheryl Crow, Shania Twain, Bee Gees, Jools Holland, Marti Pellow, Oasis, Paul Weller, Rod Stewart, Diana Ross, Saxon, Shirley Bassey (with thanks to Ian Wilder), Family, Ronan Keating, Gabrielle, Richard Hawley, U2, Coldplay, Nigel Kennedy, Eric Clapton, Richard Ashcroft, Ash, Asian Dub Foundation, Supergrass, Doves, Madness, Aswad, David Gray, Queen, Elton John, Streetwalkers, The Black Eyed Peas, John Legend, Nelly Furtado, Scissor Sisters, Van Morrison, Madonna, Pink Floyd, Iron Maiden, Whitesnake, Passionate Friends, Sting and many others.
In 2009 Goldsmith became manager for the rock guitarist Jeff Beck.
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He started out as a pharmacy student in Brighton where he founded Club 66, a successful weekly student live music venue and organised larger events at the Brighton Metropole. By the end of that decade Goldsmith had created rock music events, such as the Crystal Palace Garden Parties. A decade later the concerts had moved to larger Stadiums and he had established Wembley Stadium as a major venue for the top artists of the world.
During 1978 Goldsmith promoted the first major global TV event The Concerts for Kampuchea at Hammersmith Odeon, featuring artists including Paul McCartney, Queen and The Who. The event raised over $2 million from worldwide sales.
In 1985, Goldsmith organised Live Aid with Bob Geldof which became a £140 million fundraising venture within ten weeks. Live Aid was the first ever "Global Juke Box" featuring two simultaneous concerts, at Wembley Stadium in the UK and JFK Stadium in the US, with over sixty countries showing the seventeen-hour event live on television.
Following the success of Live Aid Goldsmith became involved with concerts in aid of Human Rights, including a worldwide Amnesty Tour. He joined the The Prince's Trust in 1982 and produced the first Princes Trust Rock Gala. Goldsmith then became a member of the The Prince's Trust Board and Vice Chairman of Prince's Trust Trading Ltd.
In 1986, he promoted Luciano Pavarotti at Wembley Arena. It was because of Goldsmith's expertise in staging charity events that his company Harvey Goldsmith Artiste Management productions was brought in as executive producers of the 1990 live performance of Pink Floyd's The Wall, from Berlin. Due to the success of these concerts, Pavrotti agreed to perform at a free concert in Hyde Park, which was organised by Goldsmith in 1991. This concert was part of Pavarotti's 30th anniversary celebrations and attracted 125,000 people.
In 1992 Goldsmith organised A Tribute to Freddie Mercury to increase Aids awareness and this was a live TV success. In the same year he became Chairman of the first National Music Day, which was instigated to promote the importance of music in UK and Goldsmith arranged a programme of fifteen-hundred musical events nationwide, covering all musical styles. Goldsmith persuaded Pavarotti to return and perform again in UK at the Leeds Castle in Kent during 1993. In 1994 under the auspices of HRH The Prince of Wales and President Havel of the Czech Republic, Goldsmith was appointed Executive Producer of The Prague Heritage Fund Gala Classical Concert. This concert featured Sir Georg Solti, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Murray Perahia also Gabriela Beňačková and was televised worldwide.
In 1994 Harvey Goldsmith started to work with Cirque du Soleil. This has been one of most successful shows to perform in the UK, returning to London's Royal Albert Hall on a regular basis. The show is seen by around 183,000 people and sells in the region of 98% of tickets. In 2005 Goldsmith managed the show in London, Birmingham and Manchester. This marked the first time in Europe for having three different productions in the same Country. He continues to promotes this show. Between 1996 and 1998 Harvey Goldsmith oversaw spectacular productions of the Lord of the Dance musical, which featured Michael Flatley in the leading role. he also promoted Pavarotti for a fourth time, in Manchester during 1997.
In October 2002 Goldsmith promoted Bruce Springsteen at Wembley Arena, the tickets for this show sold out in forty minutes making it one of his most successful promotions to date. This was followed by three sell out stadium shows in May 2003. In November 2006 Harvey produced the UK Arena dates of Bruce Springsteen's sell-out tour with the Seeger Sessions band.
In January 2006 Harvey was awarded the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres from the French Minister of Culture. he presented the dance spectacular The Merchants of Bollywood, the first ever Bollywood production to tour straight from Film City in Mumbai. The show toured the UK and opened at the Hammersmith Apollo in London on 21 December 2006. Goldsmith was honoured with the 15th Music Industry Trust's Award (MITS) in October 2006, one of the highest accolades to be awarded in the music industry, in recognition of his contribution to the music industry. In the same year, Midem honoured The Live Aid founders and Live 8 producers Harvey Goldsmith, Bob Geldof and John Kennedy OBE, with the Midem Personality of the Year Award, which was awarded in recognition of their outstanding work in bringing the music industry together to help alleviate poverty and famine in Africa. It was the first time in the seventeen year history of Midem, that this accolade was awarded to more than one person. In 2007 Goldsmith was awarded the CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List, for his work in the entertainment industry. In the same year he promoted a six month European tour of The Merchants of Bollywood.
Goldsmith was awarded a VIP Classic Rock and Roll of Honour Award in 2008, for his contributions in the music and humanitarian spheres. He is currently working as a consultant for Anschutz Entertainment Group spearheading development of a new permanent exhibit called the British Music Experience which opened during the Spring of 2009 in The O2 Arena in London.
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