Chris Norman
(Read all about Chris Norman after the video)
Christopher Ward "Chris" Norman (born 25 October 1950) is an English soft rock singer. Norman was the lead singer of Smokie,[1] an English soft rock band from Bradford, which found success in Europe in the 1970s.
Life and career
With the advent of rock and roll, Norman acquired his first guitar at the age of seven. His early musical influences were Elvis Presley, Little Richard and Lonnie Donegan.
In these early years, Norman's parents moved around the country a lot
which resulted in him going to nine different schools, and living in
various locations around England, such as, Redcar, Luton, Kimpton and Nottingham. By 1962 however, the family had moved back to Norman's mother's home city of Bradford.
Approaching his twelfth birthday, Norman started at St. Bede's Grammar
School where he was to meet Alan Silson and Terry Uttley, future members
of Smokie.
As teenagers, influenced by the new era of groups such as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones and then folk singer, Bob Dylan,
Norman and Silson began meeting up and spent nearly all their spare
time learning new songs on their guitars. They managed to persuade
Uttley to join them and, along with a drummer friend called Ron Kelly,
they formed their first band. The Yen, Essence, and Long Side Down were
just some of a variety of names they called themselves before settling
on "The Elizabethans". When Ron Kelly left the group in 1973, an old
friend called Pete Spencer was asked to take over on the drums, and the
group, which was to become Smokie, was complete.
Between 1974 and the early 1980s, Smokie were enjoying success
touring all over the world, but the strain and pressure of constantly
being away from home and family was beginning to tell on Norman. By the
early 1980s he decided to spend more time writing and working in the
studio. Norman together with Pete Spencer, now concentrated on songs for
other artists including hits for Kevin Keegan ("Head Over Heels in Love", a No. 31 UK hit),[2] and the England football team song "This Time (We'll Get It Right)".[3] He also worked with Agnetha Fältskog (on her solo album), Racey (co-writer of "Baby It's You"),[4] Donovan (backing vocals on Donovan),[5] and Heavy Metal Kids.
In 1978, Norman recorded a duet with Suzi Quatro, "Stumblin' In", which made No. 4 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and sold over one million copies.[6][7]
Norman's solo career took off in 1986 with the song, "Midnight Lady", which was a hit throughout Europe holding the number one spot in Germany for six weeks.[8] Written by Dieter Bohlen (of successful Modern Talking), it sold 900,000 copies in Germany alone. Further success followed by the songs "Some Hearts Are Diamonds", "No Arms Can Ever Hold You", "Broken Heroes", "Fearless Hearts", "Sarah" and "Baby I Miss You".[9] In 1994, Norman was honoured by CMT Europe as their 'International Video Star of the Year'.
In 2004, he took part in the Comeback Show on the German TV station ProSieben and he performed "Stumblin' In" as a duet with C. C. Catch. In the final episode of the show, he was joined by Smokie for the final song.
On 2 June 2007, Norman performed at the Peel Bay Festival, Isle of Man. Robin Gibb and Bonnie Tyler also performed on the same night.[10]
He also performed a three song set at the 2012 Discoteka 80 concert in
Moscow. The last song in his set was the "Stumblin' In" duet with C. C.
Catch, who then continued on with her own set.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments Are Moderated And Saved