Harvey Lisberg, who guided the careers of many of music’s brightest stars to emerge from Manchester, U.K. during the British Invasion, has written his memoir. I’m Into Something Good: My Life Managing 10cc, Herman’s Hermits & Many More!, arrived in the U.S. on May 18, 2023, via Omnibus Press. (Its U.K. publication date was March 30.)
From the publisher’s announcement: When 22-year-old accountant Harvey Lisberg heard the Beatles’ “Please Please Me,” he had an epiphany: he could be Manchester’s answer to Brian Epstein. He had a musical ear, a knack for numbers and a gambler’s instinct for taking a punt. Within a year he had taken local group, Herman’s Hermits, to number one with “I’m Into Something Good.” Soon, “Hermania” was a global phenomenon. Harvey had found his vocation.
The group’s first single, 1964’s “I’m Into Something Good,” reached #1 in the U.K. and #13 in the U.S. Within the next few years, it was followed by such hits as “Silhouettes,” “Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter,” “Wonderful World,” “I’m Henry VIII, I Am,” and “There’s a Kind of Hush.”
“Harvey came along and turned us into stars. He believed in us when no one else cared,” says Herman’s Hermits’ Peter Noone.
In this uproarious, frank and moving autobiography, he reveals the excesses of life on the road with Herman’s Hermits; the frustration of championing unknowns Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber; the highs and lows of managing the brilliant 10cc; and much more. Many other artists benefitted from Lisberg’s guidance during this time, including Tony Christie, Barclay James Harvest, Sad Café and the Chameleons. I’m Into Something Good is his account of a life in which he travelled the world, met heroes and villains, fulfilled his dreams, spent a fortune on good living, family and friends, and never took himself or his achievements too seriously.
In the pages of his memoir, I’m Into Something Good: My Life Managing 10cc, Herman’s Hermits & Many More!, Harvey Lisberg shares his encounters with such noted behind-the-scenes figures as producer Mickie Most, Colonel Tom Parker, Allen Klein, Don Kirshner, and Peter Grant.
“Harvey was one of the very first to recognize potential in Andrew and myself. He spotted [Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat] as a winner way before it became one,” says Sir Tim Rice.
In Best Classic Bands’ interview with Graham Gouldman, he explained how he came to find success as a young Manchester-based songwriter. “I met Harvey. [He] was so pushy and came out with such outrageous ideas at times… some of them worked and that’s his genius. Harvey was the only person who said, ‘I’ll pay you a retainer to write songs and within six months I had a record with the Yardbirds.”
Gouldman is referring to “For Your Love,” which he wrote while still a teenager. “Harvey wanted The Beatles to record ‘For Your Love’. The Yardbirds were doing a Christmas show with the Beatles, supporting them at Hammersmith Odeon at the end of ’64. And Harvey sent the song to the publisher. He knew the Yardbirds were looking for material and he played them ‘For Your Love’ and that was it.” Gouldman also penned “Heart Full of Soul” for the Yardbirds, “Bus Stop” for the Hollies, and “No Milk Today” for Herman’s Hermits before co-founding 10cc.
Related: Our exclusive excerpt from the book, on how Neil Sedaka helped create 10cc
Of his memoir, Harvey Lisberg told Best Classic Bands, “After a lifetime of rejections in the music business, I was pleasantly surprised when Omnibus picked up the publishing rights on I’m Into Something Good, my autobiography written with Charlie Thomas. A writer’s real worth is the amount of pleasure they give to the public, for example, The Bee Gees’ music in Saturday Night Fever gave one and a half hours of happiness to more than one hundred million people, and I hope anyone reading our book enjoys it with a smile whether or not they lived through the crazy sixties.”
Charlie Thomas is a writer, broadcaster and award-winning documentary maker, including a 2015 film on 10cc, and ones on the Kinks, UB40, and more.
