Alex Harvey was no punk-rocker, having first broken in during Britain's skiffle rage in the '50s (as "The Tommy Steele of Scotland") and then living on the fringes of the British blues scene during the early part of the following decade. But when he finally found his moment and grabbed on tight for the ride, it was with the Sensational Alex Harvey Band in the early '70s, a glam-rock outfit contemporary with Slade and Mott the Hoople. As part of his stage act, Harvey brandished a can of spray paint and used it liberally; the set list included covers of songs by the Coasters and Tom Jones, along with something called "There's No Lights on the Christmas Tree, Mother; They're Burning Big Louie Tonight" (references to a version of which may be found in the classic rock'n'roll movie from 1956, The Girl Can't Help It). Where do you put a guy like this, except in the proximity of the New York Dolls? By the time punk- rock had arrived Harvey was past forty and suffering health problems related to drugs and other hazards of the rock-star lifestyle. He died of a heart attack.
-- Jeff Pike in The Death of Rock 'n' Roll: Untimely Demises, Morbid Preoccupations, and Premature Forecasts of Doom in Pop Music (Faber & Faber).