Michael Harvey Jr. (born 1 May 1979), better known as MC Harvey or simply Harvey, is a British rapper. He first came to fame in the early 2000s as a member of rap group

So Solid Crew So Solid Crew are a British UK garage and hip hop collective originating from the area on and surrounding the Winstanley and York Road Estates in Battersea, London which achieved wide success in the early 2000s. The group consisted of many m ...

before then pursuing a solo career in 2008. In 2012, he was a contestant on ''

Celebrity Big Brother 10 ''Celebrity Big Brother 10'' was the tenth series of the British reality television series ''Celebrity Big Brother''. It launched on 15 August 2012, two days after the final of '' Big Brother 13'', and aired on Channel 5 and 5* for 24 days u ...

''.

Early life

Harvey was born in

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

, the son of Michael Harvey, a bodybuilder and former ''

Gladiators A gladiator ( la, gladiator, "swordsman", from , "sword") was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gla ...

'' participant "Bullit". Harvey (Sr.) owns a record label, Artiste Promotion & Management (APM), to which Harvey was once signed.

Music career

So Solid Crew

Growing up on the Plough Road area of

Battersea Battersea is a large district in south London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and extends along the south bank of the River Thames. It includes the Battersea Park. History Batter ...

in South London, Harvey was one of the founder members of

UK garage UK garage, abbreviated as UKG, is a genre of electronic dance music which originated in England in the early to mid-1990s. The genre was most clearly inspired by garage house, but also incorporates elements from dance-pop, R&B, and jungle. It ...

collective

. So Solid Crew's first album '' They Don't Know'' was released in October 2001, followed by a remix album entitled ''Fuck It'' in December 2001. They also had tracks on the UK garage CD series ''

Pure Garage ''Pure Garage'' is a successful series of UK garage compilation albums. Nearly all of them are mixed by DJ EZ. In January 2000, Warner Music chose Kiss 100's DJ EZ to mix ''Pure Garage'', a new garage compilation CD. ''Pure Garage'' went on to ...

''. In 2002 Harvey and the rest of So Solid Crew were the subject of the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

television documentary, ''This Is So Solid'', directed and narrated by

David Upshal David Upshal is a British television producer. His work includes ''Victorian Farm'', ''Victorian Pharmacy'', ''Edwardian Farm'', ''Wartime Farm'', ''Tales from the Green Valley'', ''Tudor Monastery Farm'', ''The True Face of War'', '' Days Tha ...

. This was later released on DVD by

Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal ** Universal TV, a t ...

along with a live performance.

Solo career

After leaving the band, Harvey released his first solo single, "Get Up and Move", which went into the charts at number 24. His debut album ''Back to the Beginning'' was released in 2008 and produced singles "Excuse Me Miss", which featured

Romeo Romeo Montague () is the male protagonist of William Shakespeare's tragedy ''Romeo and Juliet''. The son of Lord Montague and his wife, Lady Montague, he secretly loves and marries Juliet, a member of the rival House of Capulet, through a priest ...

and Asher D, and "If I Was Your Man", featuring Nathan. The album failed to chart. It 2011 Harvey released Hot Gyal Ft. Mista Brown and

Gyptian Windel Beneto Edwards (born 25 October 1983), better known by his stage name Gyptian (), is a Jamaican reggae singer. He often appears with roots reggae songs within the reggae subgenre dancehall. Early life Born to a Seventh-day Adventist mo ...

, which was a big hit on the clubscene. In 2012, he released another song called "Finally Along" with Lady Lesharr and former footballer

Leon McKenzie Leon Mark McKenzie (born 17 May 1978) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward from 1995 to 2013 who scored in all four English professional leagues during his career. He was also a professional boxer, competing in ...

; a new album is to follow. The same night he entered ''

Big Brother Big Brother may refer to: * Big Brother (''Nineteen Eighty-Four''), a character from George Orwell's novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' ** Authoritarian personality, any omnipresent figure representing oppressive control ** Big Brother Awards, a sat ...

'' he released a new mixtape that is available to download from his Twitter.

Other ventures

Acting

He made his theatre début in London's West End in the musical '' Daddy Cool'' in 2006. He joined the line-up of

Angie Le Mar Angie Le Mar (born 27 October 1965) is a British comedian, actor, writer, director, presenter and producer. Le Mar is married with three children. Early life Born in Lewisham, London, of Jamaican parentage, she grew up with four older brother ...

's play ''The Brothers'' at the

Hackney Empire Hackney Empire is a theatre on Mare Street, in the London Borough of Hackney. Originally designed by Frank Matcham it was built in 1901 as a music hall, and expanded in 2001. Described by ''The Guardian'' as ‘the most beautiful theatre in Lon ...

in 2008. The play was broadcast on

MTV Base MTV Base was a British pay television music channel from Paramount Networks UK & Australia that focused primarily on hip hop, R&B, grime, garage, reggae, funk, soul and dance music. It was launched as part of MTV's digital boutique of music cha ...

. He also had a hit show on MTV Base called ''The Young Gods of Comedy''. He visited

Robertsbridge Community College Robertsbridge Community College is a coeducational secondary school located in Robertsbridge in the English county of East Sussex. It was established in 1955 as Robertsbridge County Secondary School, and was renamed Robertsbridge Community Coll ...

as a motivational speaker about the music industry, singing songs and inviting students to show their rapping skills. He appeared in the 2010 British gangster film ''

The Big I Am ''The Big I Am'' is a British gangster film starring Michael Madsen and Leo Gregory which was released straight to DVD on 12 April 2010. Plot "A cruel twist of fate catapults small time crook Mickey Skinner into the big league, as head of a ...

'' as Robbo. In 2011, Harvey starred in Jason Barrett's British feature film ''The Naked Poet'', playing Richard.

Television

Harvey has also appeared on reality TV shows '' The Games'' on

Channel Four Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service i ...

in 2003 (which he won) and several series of '' The Match'' on

Sky One Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non-terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

. He has also appeared on ''

Never Mind the Buzzcocks ''Never Mind the Buzzcocks'' is a British comedy panel game show with a pop music theme. It has aired on Sky Max since September 2021, having originally aired between November 1996 and January 2015 on BBC Two. The original series was first hoste ...

'',

Newsnight ''Newsnight'' (or ''BBC Newsnight'') is BBC Two's news and current affairs programme, providing in-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines. The programme is broadcast on weekdays at 22:30. and is also availa ...

and has hosted the dance competition ''Bump 'n Grind'' on the youth cable channel

Trouble Trouble may refer to: Film and television * ''Trouble'' (1922 film), an American silent comedy-drama film directed by Albert Austin * ''Trouble'' (1933 film), a British comedy film * ''Trouble'' (1977 film), a Soviet drama film * ''Trouble'' ...

and ''Footballers' Pads'' on

. In 2007, Harvey appeared on The Weakest Link ''Music Extravaganza Special'', and was the fourth contestant voted off. In 2008, he participated in

show '' Celebrity Come Dine with Me'', along with

Jonathan Ansell Jonathan Mark Ansell (born 10 March 1982) is an English singer, best known as the high tenor of the vocal group G4 (band), G4. Early life Influenced by his mother's tapes of Pavarotti and the Three Tenors, Ansell joined the West Sussex Boys' Cho ...

Tamara Beckwith Tamara Jane Beckwith (born 17 April 1970) is an English socialite and television personality. In the 1990s, she was regarded as one of the "It girls" of the London social scene. Early life The daughter of property developer Peter Beckwith, Bec ...

and Lynsey de Paul, finishing joint first with Ansell. In summer 2012 he was a contestant on ''

'', Harvey made the final on 7 September 2012 Day 24 after never facing eviction during his entire stay within the Big Brother house. He was the first to leave the house on finale night finishing in 6th place.

Football

Harvey supports

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

and has also been a non-league footballer. He has played for

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional Association football, football club, based in London Borough of Merton, Merton, London, that plays in the EFL League Two, after being relegated from the EFL League One following the 2021–22 EFL Leagu ...

Aldershot Town Aldershot Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area i ...

and

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of ...

. He was signed by the

Conference South The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the N ...

side St Albans City in 2007 but left because of work commitments.

Personal life

Harvey married singer

Alesha Dixon Alesha Anjanette Dixon (born 7 October 1978) is an English singer, rapper, dancer, television personality, and author. She gained recognition in the early 2000s as a member of the R&B, garage and hip hop group Mis-Teeq. The group disbanded in ...

in June 2005. In November 2006, the couple split following Harvey's affair with singer

Javine Hylton Javine Dionne Hylton (born 27 December 1981), often known simply as Javine, is an English singer and songwriter. She represented the UK at the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest in Kyiv with "Touch My Fire". Hylton has also had a string of singles in ...

. He would later star with Hylton in a West End version of '' Daddy Cool''. Hylton gave birth to their daughter, Angel Hylton Harvey, in February 2008. They later split up amid allegations of his infidelity. In August 2015, Harvey married dancer Ghamzeh Mahdizadeh after dating for five years. Their daughter Persia Love Mahdizadeh was born on 1 January 2016. It was reported in February 2016 that Harvey had left Mahdizadeh for

Elarica Johnson Elarica Johnson (; born 21 August 1989) is an English actress and model, best known for playing Hailey (aka Autumn Night) in ''P-Valley.'' Johnson also starred in ''A Discovery of Witches'', in which she played Juliette Durand. She played Kylie ...

just two weeks after their wedding. In April 2016, he was jailed for ten weeks for driving without a licence or insurance.

Discography

So Solid Crew

*'' They Don't Know'' (2001) *'' 2nd Verse'' (2003)

Solo albums

* ''Back to the Beginning'' (2008)

Filmography

Film

* ''

Out for a Kill ''Out for a Kill'' is a 2003 straight-to-video action film directed by Michael Oblowitz. It stars Steven Seagal. Plot Wong Dai (Chooi Kheng Beh), an influential Chinese drug kingpin, sits at a long table in an old building in Paris, France, goi ...

'' (2003) * ''

'' (2010) * ''The Naked Poet'' (2011) * '' All things to all men'' (2012)

Television

Video games

* ''

FIFA Street ''FIFA'', also known as ''FIFA Football'' and to be rebranded as ''EA Sports FC'' from 2023, is a series of association football video games developed and released annually by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports label. As of 2011, the ''FIFA'' fr ...

'' (2005)

Theatre

* '' Daddy Cool'' by

Frank Farian Frank Farian (born Franz Reuther; 18 July 1941) is a German record producer, musician, singer and songwriter, who founded the 1970s disco-pop group Boney M., the Latin pop band No Mercy and the pop band Milli Vanilli. He frequently created vo ...

(2006) * ''The Brothers'' by

(2008)

References

External links

Biography on BBC websiteDaddy Cool websiteBBC: So Solid Crew MC Harvey
* {{Authority control Living people 1979 births AFC Wimbledon players Aldershot Town F.C. players Association football defenders Black British male rappers English footballers English male film actors English male rappers English people of Sierra Leonean descent English television presenters Lewes F.C. players Male actors from Plymouth, Devon Musicians from Plymouth, Devon So Solid Crew members St Albans City F.C. players UK garage musicians