Harriet is a singer, songwriter, actress and songwriting consultant/coach who was born in Dallas, Texas and was taught to play the piano at 4 by her father, Dr. Arthur Schoch, who was a musician as well as a renowned dermatologist.
In a career that spans over 30 years, she has recorded seven albums, all of which were critical successes if not bestsellers. In 1973, having moved to Los Angeles, Schock was signed as a staff writer for Colgems-EMI. Shortly afterwards, she was signed to 20th Century Records, a subsidiary of 20th Century Fox. Her first of three 20th Century albums, "Hollywood Town," was released in 1974. It contained her song, "Ain't No Way to Treat a Lady," which became a #1 hit for Helen Reddy.
Schock made two more albums for 20th Century ("She's Low Clouds" in 1974 and "You Don't Know What You're in For" in 1976) and enjoyed further success as artists including Vicki Carr, Johnny Mathis, Manfred Mann and Lee Greenwood began recording her songs. She was twice named Best New Female Artist by Cashbox. Throughout the '80s, she didn't record, but she was signed as a writer to Jobete by Berry Gordy, founder of Motown Records. This led to a song for Roberta Flack and also spawned a movie theme song, "First Time on a Ferris Wheel" recorded by Smokey Robinson, Carl Anderson, Gloria Loring, Nancy Wilson and many others, granting it the status of a near-standard.
Schock returned to recording in the '90s with "American Romance," produced by Nik Venet, who had been instrumental in producing and launching the careers of the Beach Boys and Linda Ronstadt. Her sixth album is "Harriet Schock Live - From Fairfax To Pasadena." Most recently, Harriet recorded her seventh CD, “Breakdown on Memory Lane," produced by Travis Allen. Her live show has garnered a Dramalog Award, and she has written numerous songs for films including "The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking." She co-wrote the theme song for the current Emmy-winning PBS children's series, "Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks." Karen Black wrote a play around five of Harriet’s songs called, “Missouri Waltz.” It played for 6 weeks in L.A. and a month in Macon, Georgia.
Schock has also worked as a songwriting instructor, both privately and for the University of Southern California and The Songwriters Guild of America. Her book, "Becoming Remarkable: For Songwriters and Those Who Love Songs" (Blue Dolphin Press, 1999), is something of a bible for aspiring songwriters. She offers private consultation and correspondence courses in songwriting, as well as teaching group classes. She conducts seminars and gives concerts around the world. In 2007 Schock was honored by LA Women In Music for her career achievements and industry contributions.
Harriet scored the three most recent Henry Jaglom films and appeared in “Irene In Time” with her entire band on camera performing 4 of her songs. She was cast in the world premiere of “Just 45 Minutes from Broadway,” a new play by Jaglom in which Harriet played the part of Sally Brooks.
Harriet and Cat Cohen have been on pop music industry panels together and appeared together on Samm Brown’s “For The Record” radio show on KPFK.