Harvey Cropper was born in New York in 1931 by west indian parents who had immigrated from St Vincent in the twenties. His father was a chemist and the mother was an embroiderist.They settled in Harlem where Harvey grew up in the fourties with neighbours such as Joe Louis and Duke Ellington.

By the age of fourteen Harvey started to take painting classes, encouraged by his father.
Then came the Korean war, Harvey was educated to a medic in the army and was sent off to Korea.During one trip to Japan he met Gushi, a painting zen monk, who took him on as his student. During that year he studied the zen philosophy and art at the Jorin Ji-temple.

Pierce, Harveys father, was the person who had introduced him in the first place to the zen buddhism, this influence can be seen in his paintings as well as in his life style. When he returned to New York in the beginning of the fifties he continued to paint, He reestablished his contact with Charlie Parker and became his art teacher.
- He had talent and could have become a capable painting artist, Harvey says. During a few years he painted intensly and sold quite a few of his paintings. But the life in New York city wasn´t enough. Go to Europe, his mother told him. Parker and some American beatniks had told him about Sweden. And after spending some time in Paris he came to Bornholm, the same year when Parker died.

1981 Harvey moved into a studio on Krukmakargatan in Stockholm, where he still lives today.Winding steep stairs like a tower in the middle ages leeds up to the studio, where it feels like time has stopped. On the shelves that run about the studio bottles, a skull and other skeleton pieces, sculptures, a stuffed magpie and glas jars filled with brushes fill up the space. One of the sculptures is visualizing Charlie Parker. On the table by the sofa stands a vase with fresh autumn flowers.Three times a week Harvey has painting classes. Different colour schemes and style flourish/thrive on the canvases. Something that Harvey encourages. He doesn´t tell anyone what they should paint, instead he shows them the best way to realize their own ideas. Harvey´s immense production over the years doesn´t leave anyone unaffected.

He is fascinated by all forms of art, he has stated as a sort of credo
- An artist must constantly work on the boundary line of imagination but with a maximum of intensity carry the human situation to be able to communicate a meaning for the living.