[2] Harris was born in Bournemouth, Hampshire, England,[1] into a Jewish family; his father was a tailor from Poland, and his mother had emigrated from Latvia.
[2] Post-war, Harris worked aboard the Mauretania on six cruises, and in groups led by clarinettist Carl Barriteau and drummer Jack Parnell.
[5] An arranger for visiting American singers such as Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra, he wrote jingles for commercials in the later 1950s.
Harris' theme music for the Anthony Newley series The Strange World of Gurney Slade (1960)[4] reached number 11 in the UK Singles Chart,[6] and still resurfaces in fresh contexts.
The Max Harris Group provided the music for the fourth series of Round the Horne (1968), and he wrote the theme tune in klezmer style for Radio 4's The Attractive Young Rabbi (1999–2002).