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Paul Harvey: Sussex composer with dementia 'honoured' to get OBE

BBC Paul HarveyBBC
Paul Harvey was diagnosed with dementia in 2020 and continued to play the piano

A former music teacher living with dementia says he is "over the moon" after being appointed an OBE in the King's Birthday Honours.

Paul Harvey, 83, has raised more than £1.5 million for dementia services after a song he created topped the iTunes and Amazon music charts.

Mr Harvey, from Buxted, East Sussex, composed the piece after being given four notes by his son, Nick Harvey.

The money has gone to the Alzheimer's Society and Music For Dementia.

Mr Harvey continued to be able to play piano pieces from memory after his diagnosis, as well as create new ones.

His son said it had been an "old party trick" of his father's to request four random notes and then improvise a song.

Mr Harvey improved the piece - Four Notes - after being given four random notes to play on the piano by his son.

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After his piece was broadcast on the BBC, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra accompanied the original phone audio to help create a single.

Reacting to his father's OBE, Nick Harvey, 51, said: "It's really, really great, and dad is over the moon.

"He still can't quite believe what's happened, but he's deeply honoured."

Paul Harvey told BBC Breakfast: "It's a great honour. I'm rather taken aback by it."

Nick Harvey said; "It's a fairy-tale end to an incredible story.

"It's been such a ride that dad's been on from four tiny little notes to raising all that money for charity, and now an OBE.

"As a family we couldn't be prouder."

He said his father had received a letter from the Cabinet Office about the honour and "was moved to tears".

Mr Harvey said his father had celebrated by having a whisky in his coffee.

He said: "What I've learned over the last few years is that musical memory is the last thing to go if you're living with dementia.

"It''s really important to be able to tap into that. The right piece of music at the right time can be absolutely transformational. It can bring them back to the here and now."

"Music can take you where ever you want to go," Paul Harvey said.

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