Mick Harvey is an Australian rock musician, composer, arranger and record producer from Rochester, Victoria. Born in 1958, he grows up in Melbourne suburbs after moving there in childhood. He sings in a church choir from an early age and also takes extra lessons in jazz guitar.

Early bands

At Caulfield Grammar School, Harvey meets Nick Cave, Phill Calvert and Tracy Pew, and they form a band that plays school functions and parties. The group begins with a mixed repertoire of covers by artists such as Lou Reed, David Bowie, Roxy Music, Alice Cooper and the Sensational Alex Harvey Band. After school, and as punk and new wave develop in Australia, the band continues as The Boys Next Door, with Tracy Pew on bass. Harvey’s playing is shaped by James Williamson of The Stooges and Paul Weller of The Jam. The group plays pubs regularly from 1977 to 1980, records in Australia, and later moves to London in 1980, where it becomes The Birthday Party. Rowland S. Howard joins in 1978, adding a feedback-heavy guitar style. Harvey then moves from guitar to drums when the band relocates to West Berlin, after drummer Phill Calvert leaves.

Collaboration with Nick Cave

After The Birthday Party ends, Harvey stays in Berlin and reconnects with Simon Bonney to reform Crime and the City Solution. He also plays guitar and piano in an early version of These Immortal Souls. He then forms Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds with Nick Cave, beginning a long collaboration that remains central to his career. Harvey is best known for this work with Cave, and he is a multi-instrumentalist who plays guitar, bass guitar, keyboards and drums.

Solo work and production

When Simon Bonney leaves Crime and the City Solution for a solo career in the United States, Harvey records two solo albums of Serge Gainsbourg songs translated from French into English: Intoxicated Man and Pink Elephants. His third solo release, One Man's Treasure, appears in 2005. He also works with PJ Harvey and produces releases by Anita Lane, Robert Forster, Conway Savage and Rowland S. Howard.

Other projects

He is also a member of The Wallbangers, The Brian Hooper Band (without Brian Hooper), The Saints '73-'78, The Nearly Brothers, and Bleak Squad. Harvey divides his time between Europe and Melbourne and has one son with his partner, painter Katrina (Katy) Beale.