Tomorrow marks the 30th anniversary of the death of one of Scotland’s geniuses of rock and not a bad self publicist either. 

Alex Harvey founder and lead singer of the the Sensational Alex Harvey Band – SAHB - was just 47 when he suffered a fatal heart attack on the way back from a gig in Zeebrugge, Belgium. 

Harvey was one of the the most outlandish, flamboyant show men of the 1970s. An astute public relations practitioner he was one of the first to realise the importance of 'brand' in the music business. With his trademark Breton shirt and guitarist Zal Cleminson’s outrageous clown get-up along with elaborate, over the top, stage shows the band was instantly recognisable. 

It was this marketability as much as the band's musical talent that built up a cult following across the globe that continues long after the singer's death.

Born in the Gorbals, Harvey played in a variety of blues bands before forming SAHB in 1972 going on to produce a handful of successful albums over the next half a dozen years such as Framed ,The Impossible Dream and Tomorrow Belongs To Me. But it was their legendary stage performances they will be remembered for by anyone lucky enough to have seen them in the flesh.

SAHB's was an impossible musical style to to pigeon hole, Slade’s Noddy Holder said “pure rock theatre. Alex was decadent rock burlesque. No-one else was doing it. He was ahead of his time.”

Their style transgressed fashion and they toured with bands from opposite ends of the musical scale from folk rockers Jethro Tull to vanguard of the fledgling punk movement, The Tubes.

Harvey is cited as an influence on a who's who's of artists since his death including John Lydon, Ian Dury, Robert Smith and Nick Cave. Never backward in coming forward he surely would be happy to be remembered after the title of one of his best known hits - Last Of The Teenage Idols.