Seen by a talent scout shortly before her sixteenth birthday, she was offered a chance to skate in Paris or to travel to Las Vegas, where she would be a dancer in a chorus line.

[5] On returning to the UK in June 1959,[7] she performed in a vocal group known as the Granadiers, and then spent three years with the Cliff Adams Singers.

[8] Subsequent to their meeting, when they both auditioned for a musical revue, Mike Margolis and Harris formed a personal and professional relationship, marrying in 1973.

In January 1965, she performed at the San Remo Music Festival, although her duet with Beppe Cardile, "L'amore è partito", failed to reach the finals.

Recorded at Olympic Studios in a session produced by Margolis and featuring harmonica virtuoso Harry Pitch,[12] "Just Loving You" had been released in January 1967 but did not reach the UK Top 50 until 29 June 1967.

18 in Ireland, "Just Loving You" was a Top Ten hit in South Africa, where sales reached 200,000 copies[citation needed].

The sustained interest[citation needed] in "Just Loving You" predicated a mild chart impact for her follow-up single "The Playground", released in September 1967.

However, she did score a substantial hit with her 5 January 1968 release, a remake of the standard "Anniversary Waltz", which spent eight weeks in the UK Top 40, peaking at No.

In 2012, she recorded a jazz swing version of "Fairytale of New York" with Ray Dorset, the duet being credited to Mungo Jerry and Anita Harris.

Whilst a frequent star of pantomime over the years, she made a debut in legitimate theatre in 1986 when she assumed the role of Grizabella in the West End production of Cats for a two-year tenure,[15] with subsequent credits including Bell, Book and Candle, Deathtrap, Seven Deadly Sins Four Deadly Sinners, Verdict and the stage dramatisations of House of Stairs and My Cousin Rachel.

Additionally, she co-starred with Alex Ferns, Will Thorp, Colin Baker and Leah Bracknell in the UK tour of the stage adaptation of Strangers on a Train in 2006.

In 2010 she starred with Brian Capron in the UK national tour of Stepping Out; having previously played the leading role of Mavis, she now took on the part of Vera.

She performed in pantomime over Christmas 2014–15, appearing as the wicked Baroness in a production of Cinderella at the Grand Opera House in York.

[17][18] In 2019, Harris guest starred in the first episode of Series 20 of Midsomer Murders, entitled "The Ghost of Causton Abbey" as Irene Taylor, an accomplice to the killer.