Rolf Harris

Singer, songwriter, TV presenter, artist and all-round entertainer, born March 30, 1930, Bassendean (near Perth), Australia. An instantly recognisable celebrity in the UK, where he began his TV career in the 1950s, making a name for himself with his quick-draw cartoons and murals. His humorous songs also made a mark on the public consciousness, to the extent that just about everybody who grew up in Britain in the 60s, 70s and 80s, knows such numbers as "Sun Arise", "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport" and "Jake The Peg". Always on the lookout for unusual sounds to use in his songs, he became something of an accidental pioneer when he was given a prototype electronic instrument, the Stylophone, and quickly became its most notable champion, recording demos and endorsing the product. Tinny though the Stylophone was, it did much to feed the imaginations and ambitions of a generation who would grow up to become the pioneers of synthpop and even techno. A little-known fact is that Rolf Harris and David Bowie shared a sound engineer at the time who, having heard Rolf playing the instrument, suggested to Bowie that a stylophone was just what was needed to make "Space Oddity" sound all other-worldly. And so the unique sound of Bowie's first number one hit owes a surprising debt to the "Boy from Bassendean".
Harris's TV career has continued, often giving him the opportunity to show off his artistic skills, and his recording career has had an unlikely renaissance in recent years, including occasional (and increasingly bizarre) returns to the wonderful world of electronics. In 2000, he marked his seventieth birthday by publishing an autobiography, "Can You Tell What It is Yet?".