Harvey Cantwell

Harvey Cantwell started to perform in front of his parents at a very early age. He used to pretend to be pop icon Michael Jackson when he was a child. As he grew up, he didn't think he would be good enough as a singer as none of his family members had any background in singing. However, during his teenage years he started to take singing seriously when his friends encouraged him to put videos of him singing on Facebook. It was Blair Dreelan, the manager of groups such as Union J and Overload, who first recognized his talent after watching a 30-second video of Harvey singing a cover version of the Justin Timberlake song "Mirrors". Blair soon started to act as Harvey's manager, too, and earned him his first gig at the All Starz Summer Party at the Madejski Stadium in Reading, Berkshire, in June 2013. Harvey performed alongside huge stars like Jessie J, JLS, Lawson, Amelia Lily & Union J. A few days later, he was signed by Universal Music for a record deal. The music video for his first single, "Thank You", was released on Dec 11, 2013, by London Records, a division of Universal Music.

According to Rich Castillo, the A&R executive of Universal Music, who offered Harvey Cantwell his first record deal, he is a natural singer with a unique voice. He also thinks that Harvey is quite mature for his age, often performing like someone twice his age. Harvey, who started off his professional career by performing on stage with heavyweights from the music industry, didn't waste the opportunity to get advice from the masters. Following their advice, he has embraced his uniqueness and wants his fans to love him for who he truly is. Harvey used to write songs even before he signed his record deal. The first song he wrote was at the age of 8. Once he got involved in the process of making his own music, he contributed a great deal to the lyrics of his song ‘Thank You’. However, he does accept that he is too young to have enough experience on the field of love – something his debut single explores – and needed others to help him out. Harvey Cantwell uses just his first name as his stage name.

While growing up, Harvey Cantwell was greatly inspired by Justin Timberlake, who influenced his singing style to a large extent. He loves his idol not only because he is a great singer, but also for the fact that he is an actor and a dancer. He was also inspired by stars like Craig David, Tori Kelly and Bruno Mars. Among the people from the music industry whom he met personally, Nathan Sykes made the biggest impact on him. However, given the opportunity, he would like to collaborate with the boy band One Direction. He is also interested to work with Craig David and Beyoncé.