Bev Harrell

Alongside Lynne Randell, petite (4′ 9″) blonde Bev Harrell was one of the most popular female solo singers on the mid-60s Australian pop scene.

Hailing from Adelaide, Bev’s singing career started at the age of five when she won a newcomers’ competition on an Adelaide children’s radio programme called Kangaroos on Parade, singing Sweet Old-Fashioned Girl. She appeared regularly on the show until she was six.

She began singing again in 1965 as the resident vocalist with a 10-piece band in Adelaide.

At this stage, it was a part-time occupation for her, and by day she still worked as a shorthand typist and ledger machinist with a wholesale firm.

Her big break came when her manager sent a tape of Bev’s singing to a record company.

She soon became a regular on Australian television shows like Kommotion and Bandstand, supported The Rolling Stones on their Australian tour in 1966, and issued eight singles on EMI (three for the HMV label and five for the Columbia label).

The singles were What Am I Doing Here With You? (#6 in Sydney in January 1967), Come On Over To My Place (Sydney #31 in March 1967), You Baby (June 1967), One In A Million (Sydney #28, February 1968), Mon Pere (July 1968), One Way Ticket (October 1968), Everybody Needs Love (April 1969), and The Looking Glass (February 1970).

In 1970 she travelled to the UK where she recorded for the Bell label.

Arriving back in Australia during 1972, she signed to RCA and issued three singles; It Was Easy (June 1973), Carols by Candlelight (October), and Mon Pere (March 1974).

Her last single, Bring Back Those Memories, was on Polydor.

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