Harvey Helps Acts Get It Together

It may cause one or two raised eyebrows in live music circles when a promoter who’s been bankrupt once and narrowly avoided it a second time advises others on how to sort out their acts, but Harvey Goldsmith is to star in a new TV show that will help six entertainment businesses turn their fortunes around.

It wasn’t possible to get comment from the legendary Live Aid and Live 8 promoter at press time, but the new reality TV show, "Get Your Act Together With Harvey Goldsmith," was set to air on Channel 4 starting in late March.

Each of the six weekly episodes, which have been produced by Bob Geldof’s Ten Alps TV, will feature Goldsmith trying to reverse the fortunes of some struggling entertainment businesses.

He’ll be trying to transform the careers of Irish pop star Samantha Mumba and U.K. heavy metal band Saxon, trying to revive a working men’s club with dwindling membership and big debts, revamping Paulo’s (Britain’s oldest family circus), helping a struggling husband-and-wife opera business, and advising Big L Radio – a local radio station with big name DJs – on how to up its dwindling listenership.

He’ll work with each act over several months advising them on everything from image to invoices and opening his extensive contacts book to help them get back on their feet.

He attracted international news coverage with the bankruptcy of Harvey Goldsmith Entertainments in ’99 and, in May 2004, his Artiste Management Productions avoided a similar fate by reaching a "voluntary arrangement" to pay part or all of its debts to creditors over a mutually agreed period.

Details of the agreement weren’t made public but the country’s tax and revenue authorities were believed to be the only main creditors. No music business companies are thought to have lost out.

Last year he celebrated 40 years in the live music business and was honoured with a Music Industry Trust Award in recognition of his services to the industry, his work producing the history-making Live Aid and Live 8 events and the money he’s raised for good causes.

The world-famous rock ‘n’ roll impresario, who already has the CBE among his long roll of honours, is almost as well known for the work he’s done raising millions for the Prince’s Trust, the Teenage Cancer Trust and numerous other charities.