I thought it necessary to step out of blogging retirement to warmly remember the life of Norman Smith who sadly passed away on the 3 March, aged 85. Perhaps some of you are scratching your heads and wondering who on earth was Norman Smith? Norman was a very influential figure in the world of pop music, initially as a sound engineer at EMI working for George Martin. Smith worked on every single Beatles’ record between the years 1962 and 1965, from their debut album “Please Please Me” up to and including “Rubber Soul”, taking in songs such as “Love Me Do” and “She Loves You” to “Nowhere Man” and “Norwegian Wood”. John Lennon affectionately nicknamed him “Normal” Norman!
Promoted to producer in 1966, Norman signed Pink Floyd to EMI, after seeing them perform at “underground” club UFO, despite professing a lack of understanding regarding psychedelia. Nevertheless, during 1967 and 1968, he went on to produce their seminal single “See Emily Play” together with the band’s first three albums, “Piper at the Gates of Dawn”, “A Saucerful of Secrets” and “Umma Gumma”. During their first session at Abbey Road, Paul McCartney dropped in to the studio, put his hand on Smith’s shoulder, and told the Floyd, “You won’t go wrong with this bloke as your producer.” To think that without this signing there would have been no “Dark Side of the Moon” and guitarist Dave Gilmour would never have introduced a 16-year-old Kate Bush to the label!
The strangest twist in the tale is that after Pink Floyd took over their own production duties, Norman Smith reinvented himself, albeit briefly, as a pop singer! In 1972, under the pseudonym Hurricane Smith, and at the age of nearly 50, he had a huge hit with the self-penned “Oh, Babe, What Would You Say?” The song harked back to the music hall and vaudeville era. If you’ve never heard it, imagine a Gilbert O’Sullivan tune sung by John Hurt! Appearance wise, he promoted the record modelling himself on Peter Wyngarde as Jason King from the ITC TV series “Department S”! At the time, I was too young to make the connection between Hurricane and Norman, which presumably was the intention, but, I’m pleased to say, I still have my copy of his best-known single.
Promoted to producer in 1966, Norman signed Pink Floyd to EMI, after seeing them perform at “underground” club UFO, despite professing a lack of understanding regarding psychedelia. Nevertheless, during 1967 and 1968, he went on to produce their seminal single “See Emily Play” together with the band’s first three albums, “Piper at the Gates of Dawn”, “A Saucerful of Secrets” and “Umma Gumma”. During their first session at Abbey Road, Paul McCartney dropped in to the studio, put his hand on Smith’s shoulder, and told the Floyd, “You won’t go wrong with this bloke as your producer.” To think that without this signing there would have been no “Dark Side of the Moon” and guitarist Dave Gilmour would never have introduced a 16-year-old Kate Bush to the label!
The strangest twist in the tale is that after Pink Floyd took over their own production duties, Norman Smith reinvented himself, albeit briefly, as a pop singer! In 1972, under the pseudonym Hurricane Smith, and at the age of nearly 50, he had a huge hit with the self-penned “Oh, Babe, What Would You Say?” The song harked back to the music hall and vaudeville era. If you’ve never heard it, imagine a Gilbert O’Sullivan tune sung by John Hurt! Appearance wise, he promoted the record modelling himself on Peter Wyngarde as Jason King from the ITC TV series “Department S”! At the time, I was too young to make the connection between Hurricane and Norman, which presumably was the intention, but, I’m pleased to say, I still have my copy of his best-known single.
No comments:
Post a Comment