Right on Cue: Legendary Manager Harvey Lisberg's Memoir Reveals Snooker's Wild Side

Fri Jan 10, 2025
Harvey Lisberg's Memoir

Harvey Lisberg’s new memoir, Managing the Bad Boys of Snooker: Jimmy White and Alex Higgins, dives into the untold, sordid stories behind the snooker scene

When you think about it, professional snooker is a lot like rock and roll: They both involve a certain amount of gambling, and in each one, your success hinges on staying in the pocket. But there’s one key difference: Snooker players are wilder. A lot wilder.

That’s Harvey Lisberg’s story, anyway. A legendary manager who’s handled both rock stars and giants of sport, he’s chosen to spill the juicy details of the latter in his new ebook, Managing the Bad Boys of Snooker: Jimmy White and Alex Higgins. And the way he describes it, looking after the likes of “Hurricane” Higgins and “Whirlwind” White was a brush with utter madness that not even his years in the trenches of pop could have prepared him for.

I’m Into Something Good by Harvey Lisberg

Fri May 26, 2023
I’m Into Something Good by Harvey Lisberg

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. 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; the utter madness of looking after snooker bad boys Alex ‘Hurricane’ Higgins and Jimmy ‘Whirlwind’ White and much, much more. Many other artists benefitted from Harvey’s guidance during this time, including Tony Christie, Barclay James Harvest, Sad Café and the Chameleons.

A few book snippets from Harvey on how it all began: