.
Character Profiles > Ty Harper Dean Geyer

After giving up his law degree to concentrate on his dream of becoming a musician, Ty Harper found himself disowned by his family. Ty was determined to focus on his music, however, and soon built up a small, but loyal, fanbase. Whilst performing at an all-ages gig at Sanctum nightclub, Ty met Rachel Kinski, who fell at his feet, literally, when someone bumped into her, and she was later embarrassed to realise that he was the cousin of Taylah Jordan, who was dating Rachel's brother, Zeke. Though Taylah had brought her friends to the gig in the hope of matchmaking Rachel with Ty, it looked like their awkward first encounter, and Rachel's reluctance to begin another relationship after a recent bad experience, might nip Taylah's efforts in the bud. The following day, Taylah invited Ty to a party at the General Store, being held to farewell long-time resident Harold Bishop, but Rachel was annoyed with the continued matchmaking attempts. The next day, when Ty ran into Rachel and Zeke again at the store, she told him that she wasn't interested in him, but was left humiliated when he called her 'Rochelle' and said that it was fine, as he wouldn't date one of his cousin's schoolfriends anyway.

On the advice of Zeke, Ty headed to Charlie's Bar and spoke to owner Steph Scully about performing some gigs there. She admitted that she wasn't really interested at the moment but, short-staffed, asked if he had any bar experience. He jumped at the offer, and one of his first customers was Rachel, there with Zeke and their stepmother Susan. Overhearing Rachel complaining to Zeke about Ty, and how she wouldn't want to date him anyway, he asked her if she'd like to read the children's menu.

With brooding musician Ty proving popular with the ladies of Erinsborough, Ringo Brown and Declan Napier decided to form a band to get some attention for themselves. Ty agreed to give them some tips, and also accepted an apology from Rachel for her recent behaviour, as she explained that she'd been through some tough times recently. When Ty later started mouthing off at the bar about the upcoming trial of Angus Henderson, a teacher who had an affair with a student, he upset Rachel, the student in question. As he became the one apologising to her, she realised that she'd been quick to judge him, but was determined that they should just be friends, wary that her friends and family thought that she became romantically involved with every guy she came into contact with.

As they got to know each other at dance classes, Ty started to open up about his past and his problems with his family, and Libby saw a new side to him. When Steph then noticed on her work records that it was Ty's birthday, and he'd kept quiet about it, Libby organised a small party at the bar. Her dad Karl noticed how much she was enjoying Ty's company, while Libby noticed how well her son, Ben got along with Ty, though things got awkward when Ben asked if Ty was going to be his new dad. When Ty then asked Libby out to a gig, she agreed to go, though admitted to Steph that she didn't really see him as relationship material. It was an awkward evening, with Dan and his wife Samantha also at the club, and a jealous Dan trying to warn Ty to be careful with Libby, only to be told to mind his own business. Though Libby and Ty were getting along well, he was also growing close to Rachel, as he helped her overcome her fear of singing in public and convinced her to help him write and perform a song for the upcoming school formal. Following the performance at the formal, Ty and Libby were on their second date - this time a picnic in the park - when it once again ended in disaster when they found Chris Knight unconscious in the bushes by the lake.

As they got to know each other at dance classes, Ty started to open up about his past and his problems with his family, and Libby saw a new side to him. When Steph then noticed on her work records that it was Ty's birthday, and he'd kept quiet about it, Libby organised a small party at the bar. Her dad Karl noticed how much she was enjoying Ty's company, while Libby noticed how well her son, Ben got along with Ty, though things got awkward when Ben asked if Ty was going to be his new dad. When Ty then asked Libby out to a gig, she agreed to go, though admitted to Steph that she didn't really see him as relationship material. It was an awkward evening, with Dan and his wife Samantha also at the club, and a jealous Dan trying to warn Ty to be careful with Libby, only to be told to mind his own business. Though Libby and Ty were getting along well, he was also growing close to Rachel, as he helped her overcome her fear of singing in public and convinced her to help him write and perform a song for the upcoming school formal. Following the performance at the formal, Ty and Libby were on their second 'date' - this time a picnic in the park - when it once again ended in disaster when they found Chris Knight unconscious in the bushes by the lake.

Though Ty seemed disappointed that both of their trips out together had been ruined, Libby made it clear that they'd only ever been friends anyway. Message received, Ty moved on, and his friendship with Rachel grew when she helped him to get rid of an unwanted stalker, Donna Freedman. During a gig at Charlie's, Ty spotted Donna in the crowd and explained to Rachel that she'd been following him around for over a year. So, in the hope of getting rid of her, Rachel pretended to be Ty's girlfriend. Though it seemed to have worked, Donna then moved her obsession over to Rachel, thinking she might win over Ty if she was more like her rival. The whole situation came to a head when Donna, wearing a dark wig like Rachel's hair, turned up to help with some bushfire prevention work, where Rachel and Ty were also volunteering. As Donna pestered Ty with lies about her new work experience at a record label, he turned on her and asked her to leave him alone. She vanished and soon after, a fire broke out. Though pyromaniac fireman Jay Duncan was found to be responsible, Donna was a suspect for a while, and was hurt that Rachel and her friends believed she could do such a thing. Everyone soon realised that all she needed was a few genuine friends and she might stop with the stalking and the ridiculous stunts and, once she started at Erinsborough High and slowly made friends, she left Ty alone for good.

With his own love life going nowhere, Ty concentrated on involving himself in other people's affairs, warning Libby's new boyfriend Lucas not to mess her around, then preventing a tipsy Rebecca Napier from making the biggest mistake of her life, going home with her ex, Paul Robinson, by warning Steph what was about to happen. Steph quickly took Rebecca aside and made her realise that she didn't want to wake up the next morning with Paul next to her.

Ty couldn't help but be jealous when Angus Henderson was released from prison and, despite the thorough disapproval from friends and family, Rachel resumed her relationship with him. Though he drowned his sorrows with friends, Ty also tried his best to be a supportive friend to her and she agreed to play with his band at Declan Napier's 18th birthday party. Angus, meanwhile, was growing jealous of Ty and Rachel's close friendship, and a fight almost broke out at the party - where Angus was already being made to feel like an outcast - when Ty joked that he and Rachel 'make sweet music together'. Rachel was happy to have at least one friend still left in Ramsay Street, and they sang Unforgettable for the party-goers. The following day, Ty was filling in at the gym and was surprised when Angus came in to hand in his CV about a job. When Ty pointed out that lots of teenagers used the facilities at the gym, Angus snapped and said he'd had enough, throwing the CV in the bin and telling Ty to stuff the job. Things only got worse as Rachel and Angus realised that they'd never be able to live normal lives in Erinsborough, and made plans to leave for South Australia, only for Rachel to realise, at the last minute, that she couldn't leave her family. Angus left without her and, hoping to cheer her up, Ty bought her a keyboard as a gift, which backfired spectacularly, with Rachel thinking that he was trying to win her over, when he was just trying to show her that he cared. Meanwhile, Rachel was also receiving mysterious text messages and, as she spent the evening babysitting at number 32, growing increasingly scared, Ty came home from a charity slave auction at the bar, only for Rachel to believe he was a stalker and knock him out with a cricket bat. Few people believed that Ty was capable of stalking Rachel, though as the evidence started to pile up, he struggled to prove his innocence, but it wasn't until Rachel realised that school bully Justin Hunter had been taunting her for days about Angus that she got to the truth. Justin admitted to being the stalker, and Rachel managed to apologise to Ty for the way she'd treated him.

Donna could see that Ty and Rachel were meant to be together, but recent events had caused tension between them. In the hope of helping things along, she dragged Rachel to Triple E radio station, where she managed to get DJs Fred and Big Tommo to interview them about Rachel attacking Ty with a cricket bat, and they even played Unforgettable. Ty was touched by the gesture, and even happier when the radio exposure led to two new bookings for the band. When Nothing Doing then started the search for a new female lead singer, Ty decided to make sure the other auditionees were awful, so that Rachel could win. After overhearing Sienna Cammeniti singing along badly to her iPod, he asked her to audition, but was annoyed when she was reasonably good, and things got worse when the other band members, particularly Logan Ellis, outvoted Ty and demanded that Sienna join. But, just as Ty had feared, Sienna struggled with the songs, though Logan was desperate to accommodate her, angering Ty when he asked if they could change the key of some of the songs, as Sienna couldn't quite manage some of the notes.

With the band set to play an important gig with booking agents in the crowd, Ty was keen for everything to be perfect, and when Sienna's nerves started to show, he suggested having Rachel on stage for moral support, as a backing singer. He then encouraged Zeke, who was controlling the sound system, to ramp up Rachel's voice, so it drowned out Sienna's. Things were going well, until, during the break, Logan tried to kiss Sienna, and she realised that he was more interested in her than her voice, and quit the band. Ty decided that Rachel would have to fill in, but Logan wasn't convinced, believing that Ty fancied her, and her presence would make the band lose its edge. As Ty tried to convince Logan that he didn't have any feelings for Rachel, he failed to realise that his microphone was still switched on, and Rachel could hear every word he was saying. Later, she confronted him and he admitted that he did genuinely have feelings for her, and had just said that stuff to stop Logan being an idiot, but he knew she just wanted to be friends, so would try to get over it, if she'd agree to join the band. The band's next gig went no more smoothly, as they played at a gallery where Dan's brother Lucas had a photography exhibition, but a fight broke out between the siblings, over Libby. But it seemed that Rachel and Ty were getting along better, until she was suddenly distracted as she noticed that she'd lost the ring, given to her by Angus after his trial. They searched but failed to find it, until the next day, when Ty found it in the back of his car, amongst all the band's sound gear, bent out of shape.

After struggling to decide what to do with the ring, Ty realised how distracted Rachel was as they rehearsed and admitted that he'd found it. Rachel took this as a sign that she needed to move on from Angus and, as she finally made up her mind to try and make things work with Ty, he was busy deciding to give up on Rachel. That night, she convinced him to join her at Charlie's to see The Veronicas and, after the gig, they shared a kiss. But after going back to number 32, then being interrupted by Toadie, Rachel started to panic and walked out on Ty, admitting that she needed time to think before things got any more serious. The next day, she decided to finally put her past behind her and buried Angus' ring in one of the flowerbeds at Lassiter's, and telling Ty that she wanted to be his girlfriend. Things were briefly perfect for the young couple, until Ty ended up badly injured during a tackle with Ringo in a football game. At the hospital, x-rays on his hand showed that nothing was broken, but it would still take a while to heal, leaving Ty worried that he might not be able to play the guitar properly again. With his music career on the line, Ty started to grow depressed, and Ringo's apology and Rachel's attempts to comfort him only seemed to make matters worse, particularly when she got the gang together to perform for Ty outside number 32, which only served to be a painful reminder to him of what he was missing out on. As Ty became more distant, Rachel started to worry that she was the problem, so Didge convinced her to send Ty a sexy note, detailing what she'd like to do with him. After she found him asleep and left the note with him, he eventually found it and went over to see her. As Rachel started to apologise, thinking it was a terrible idea, he said that he was quite looking forward to her ripping his shirt off, and the relationship got back on track.

However, when Ty started disappearing on his own and acting oddly, Donna questioned whether he was about to dump Rachel. Though desperate not to lose trust in him, Rachel was suspicious when Ty said that he couldn't see her later, as he had a doctor's appointment, so she and Donna followed him and ended up at the school where, from their vantage point, all they could see was two pairs of legs walking into one of the classrooms. The next day, Rachel dragged Didge along to the school as Ty went for another mysterious meeting, but the girls ended up being caught, and were surprised to find that Ty's female companion was Didge's mum, Miranda, who Ty had been giving dance lessons to. Upset that his girlfriend didn't trust him, Ty told her that he needed some time alone, as the relationship clearly wasn't working. Though Rachel tried to explain that she was just very paranoid, as she'd been hurt so many times, Ty told her he'd heard it all before and wasn't going to change his mind. But, as the pair were searching for Karl's runaway pig, Lennie together, they got talking and got back together, though he still refused to pick up his guitar again, claiming that his physio had told him not to play yet. When he then refused to play at Libby's engagement party, Rachel started pushing him, until he admitted that he was just scared that, if his music career started to take off, he'd be forced to deliver, and he wasn't sure he was ready. Rachel convinced him to try, and he wrote a song about Dan and Libby, which he performed without any problems, but the following week, his hand was still giving him problems, and during dinner at the Kennedy house, he asked Karl for another painkiller prescription. When Karl told him to come and see him, in a professional capacity, at the hospital, Ty instead stole some pills from Karl's medical bag. Karl noticed they were missing, and accused Ty, leaving Rachel horrified and defending her boyfriend.

But as Rachel supported Ty and even arranged for music agent Tanya Tasker to come and watch him play, he started to lose his confidence and admitted to Lucas that he was worried he was developing a painkiller addiction, having suffered from one a couple of years earlier after a car accident. But, he managed to play and Tanya was impressed, immediately offering him the job as the new frontman of Independent Means, a band who were about to leave for a six-month tour of Japan. Realising this was his dream, Rachel encouraged him to accept, and he signed a contract, neglecting to mention the problems he was having with the painkillers as he did so. When Ty then had a photoshoot and Tanya noticed him rubbing his wrist, she gave him some painkillers, but when Rachel found them, she angrily took them back to Tanya, telling her that Ty didn't need them. But as Rachel started to worry about the amount of time her boyfriend was spending with his new manager, Ty was left stunned when Tanya made a clumsy attempt to seduce him, and, when he turned her down, she stormed off, telling him it was the biggest mistake he'd ever made. The next day, she told Ty that the band had found a new frontman, and his contract was terminated, claiming he had a health problem he hadn't divulged. Though Rachel was annoyed that Ty had kept his painkiller problem from her, they managed to make up, as she realised that he'd once again seen his dreams go up in smoke. Later that week, as Ty started giving Rachel guitar lessons, he taught her a Christmas song he'd just written, It's Christmas, and they performed it together as the Ramsay Street residents switched on their Christmas lights.

After Donna helped them to make a video clip, It's Christmas was soon a hit online, and attracted the attention of record producer Hamish Patrick from Default records. Unfortunately, Hamish was only interested in signing Rachel, who hadn't even performed for her, based on her looks. Ty pretended to be pleased that he would still be able to be her songwriter, but when her contract came through, there was no mention of him on it. As Rachel realised that this was his dream, and not hers, she ripped up the contract.

As a new year dawned, Rachel suddenly had more important things to worry about as Zeke was missing, presumed dead, after a rafting accident, causing Karl to desperately search for him and the return of Susan's MS symptoms. With Ty desperately trying to support his girlfriend, whilst struggling for cash, and Rachel desperate to take her mind off what was happening to her family, Rachel decided to accept the record deal with Default. Though Ty wasn't convinced that it was the best idea, Rachel was determined, and her feelings became more confused when she found out that Zeke's bank card had been used, and the police were entertaining the possibility that he was alive and didn't want to come home. In her emotional state, she clumsily seduced Ty, before heading home, where he found her, hugging Zeke's pillow, and told her he loved her. When Rachel replied that he 'means a lot to her', Ty was upset, and Lucas advised him to avoid her for a while whilst she sorted out her feelings. When she later approached Ty to ask about helping her with a gym regime, as she needed to tone up for the record company, he agreed, but was distant with her. As Rachel's music career started to take off, and the record company arranged an interview on Video Hits, Ty became more and more involved, trying to support Rachel as she dealt with that and the realisation that Zeke was dead. As a memorial service was held, Ty and Rachel performed Unforgettable, though she could barely get the words out, and Libby stood up to join her, before the whole assembled group of family and friends started singing too.

Rachel continued to struggle with her grief, but everyone was in for a shock when Zeke was found living with a man named Phil Andrews and suffering from a Disassociative Fugue. Phil had convinced Zeke that he was his dead son, Trent and, when found, Zeke was reluctant to return to the family he didn't remember, though his connection to Rachel was still as strong as ever and she became the only person he trusted. With Zeke's memories slowly returning, he learnt that Rachel had been offered a university place in London, but was in two minds about going because of Ty. Ty, meanwhile, was surprised when Rachel suddenly abandoned her music career in the middle of a recording session, announcing that the whole thing just wasn't right for her. Ty came to the conclusion that Rachel had the right idea and he decided to give up on his dreams too, selling his guitar. When Zeke then came to him and explained about Rachel's offer to move to London, Ty agreed to dump his girlfriend in the hope that she would take up the offer of a lifetime. Though it broke Ty's heart, he ended the relationship, but raced to the airport at the last minute to say his goodbyes and, thanks to Zeke distracting the security guards, the young lovers managed to share one last kiss.

With Rachel gone, Ty focused his energies on finding a new career and started working as a builder, but quickly came to realise that he wasn't cut out for it and quit the job. When Steph noticed what a great job he was doing teaching Charlie to play the xylophone for the school's Easter Concert, she told him to consider a career as a music teacher, and though he started helping Charlie, Callum, Mickey and Ben to form a band, he wasn't sure that he wanted music to be a part of his life again. Over the weeks that followed, Ty slowly started to enjoy spending time with the kids and was considering a new career in teacher, but he couldn't get Rachel out of his mind. When she accidentally sent him a text message, meant for someone named Chris and thanking them for the previous night, Ty was convinced she'd met a new man, until Libby told him that Chris (short for Chrisine) was a Kennedy cousin who lived in England. Realising that he needed to resolve things with Rachel, Ty tried to contact her, but in the end Toadie got in touch with Rachel, telling her about Ty's fears, and she sent a video message, asking Ty to join her in London. After thinking things through, he decided to take the chance and leave, and was seen off by Charlie, Callum, Ben and Mickey, who sang a slightly off-key version of Unforgettable, with new lyrics, telling him how much he'd be missed.

Tenure
5419-5679

Magic Moments
Episode 5419: Ty's Arrival

Biography by Steve

Back