Harry Hussey
UK based Jazz accordionist
Contact Information for Harry as follows:-
Tel/Text:- 07980 - 390392
Fax:- 01904 - 763616
Harry Aged 17
At weekends from 1944 onwards (at 15yrs) he joined a dozen or so other young budding accordionists as they eagerly queued outside Wheatleys Piano Shop in Kilburn High Road at 8am hoping to be invited to join one of the many scheduled charabanc buses as "The Accordionist for the Day" on their daytrips to Southend, 8-10 buses would normally be departing. Harry would stand for most of the journey at the front of the bus alongside the driver with "one step in the stairwell" facing his captured audience playing requests, party pieces and sing-alongs , anything to help create a wonderful party atmosphere , he would then pass his patent "accordion shaped collection tin" around so those aboard could show their appreciation. The same at the half way stop on the Southend Road and again at the seaside destination which was the famous "Kursaal" , he would then move speedily towards " The Ship Inn " attempting to be amongst the fiirst to entertain the day-trippers,sometimes there was as many as 50 buses arriving at Southend and most had an accordionist so he had to be quick . If he was lucky he also got invited aboard one of the many boat trips, where his trusty accordion tin would be passed around once more, a hastily grabbed fish and chips and cup of tea if he was lucky before it was back to Kilburn repeating the same hectic routine for the return journey home arriving at approximately 11.30pm.
An extremely tired and exhausted Harry could, as a teenager , earn as much as £9.00 on one of these busy weekend trips which was excellent and amounted to approximately 3 times his fathers weekly wage in those days. He continued with his love of music and accordion by playing throughout his National Service which included radio broadcasts on the British Forces Network from Hamburg in Germany including the time around 1948 when Cliff Michelmore was a presenter. Harry then trained as a surveyor & builders estimator and achieved his qualifications to become a chartered builder & surveyor also becoming a Fellow of the Institute of Architecture & Surveying. He then turned his interests to Arbitration and Law and performed all sorts of jobs including director of a building company, an area surveyor for a housing association and many many more. The impressive array of letters that officially follow Harry's name read like a dictionary as follows :- RICS. FCIOB. ACIArb. FASI MRSH.
Guest Artist at Leyland Accordion Club
Playing In The Pub at the Blackpool Accordion Festival
