Eschewing the art-music world, Harnell sought work in pop and jazz, working as a for-hire pianist after returning to New York City in 1950. He played in Lester Lanin's band at this time and found work as an accompanist for singers such as Judy Garland, Maurice Chevalier, and Marlene Dietrich. From 1958 to 1961, he was Peggy Lee's full-time accompanist and arranger for the albums Anything Goes:Cole Porter and Peggy Lee & the George Shearing Quartet. In 1962, he was hurt in a car crash, and while he recovered, Kapp Records asked him to work on writing potential hits in the then-hot genre of bossa nova. Harnell's biggest success was with his arrangement of "Fly Me to the Moon", which was a hit in the US in 1963 and which won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance. The song also peaked at number 6 in Harnell's hometown, on WMCA in New York, on January 16, 1963. The album from which it was taken went to number 3 on the Billboard 200. Harnell would go on to release nearly 20 easy listening albums, on Kapp, Columbia, and Motown among others. Harnell was also an integral part of The Dinah Shore Chevy Show as the "house pianist" on many episodes. Often at the end of a show Shore would gather round Harnell at the piano and she and her guests that evening would make requests of him for a song they wanted to sing. Some of those guests were John Raitt, Gisele MacKenzie, and very often, Janet Blair. It was a low key and warm way to bring the show to its conclusion. The show ran on NBC from October 1956 to June 1963. Starting in 1964, Harnell worked with Grey Advertising as a jingle writer, and from 1967 to 1973, he worked as musical director of The Mike Douglas Show. In 1973, Harnell moved to Hollywood and worked in film score and television composition, composing for The Bionic Woman, The Incredible Hulk including "The Lonely Man Theme" with which all episodes of The Incredible Hulk ended, playing over David Bruce Banner walking down yet another lonely road, Alien Nation, and V, for which he received an Emmy nomination in 1983. Harnell also wrote the signature tune introducing United Artists movies in the 1980s, as well as the theme music for the NBC daytime soap Santa Barbara. Following this he became a faculty member at USC's Thornton School of Music as an instructor in film score composition.
Personal life
Harnell self-published an autobiography entitled Counterpoint in 2000, co-authored with television producer/director Ira Skutch, and died of heart failure on July 14, 2005. Harnell and his family had been residents of Teaneck, New Jersey. His son, Jess Harnell, is a voice actor and singer, best known as the voice of Wakko Warner on the Steven Spielberg-produced animated television seriesAnimaniacs. His youngest son, Jason, is a jazz drummer and educator who has performed, recorded and toured with many jazz luminaries such as Maynard Ferguson 1995 These Cats Can Swing Concord Records Joe's grandson, Jeremy, is a composer and visual artist working under the name JC Harnell, and a 2011 winner of the Peoples Music Award for Best Abstract/Experimental Artist.
