Harriott was born in
St Thomas,
Jamaica, the son of a doctor's assistant, Oscar Harriott, and his wife, Minna (née Powell), a teacher. They later moved to the island's capital,
Kingston, then the
United States to study, leaving Chester and his siblings with relatives. A gifted pianist from a young age, he appeared on local radio stations and followers set up a fund for him to study in
London; in 1950, he joined
Trinity College of Music and while there met Arthur Bennett, who taught him modern music. Through that connection, Harriott was introduced to the nightclub scene in central London, playing at the Langham Club for the likes of
Princess Margaret. Throughout the early 1950s, he performed at
Gateways, a pioneering lesbian club in Chelsea, as well as the Mandrake Club in
Soho and the Sunset Club, where he performed alongside the celebrated jazz saxophonist
Joe Harriott. After finishing at Trinity, he partnered up with John Porter to form a double-act, but soon switched to form a lasting duo with
Victor Brown. Performing for eight years as Harriott and Evans, a variety act, they travelled to
Paris, toured and sold 50,000 copies of one album. In 1962, they parted ways and Harriott carried on performing solo before working for
Granada Television from 1967. He opened a restaurant called Truffles in 1985 and retired from performing following an illness in the late-1990s. He outlived his first wife, Petronia, and later married a magician called Claudine. Harriott died on 4 July 2013 aged eighty years. He had five children, including the television chef
Ainsley Harriott. == References ==