Larry David Norman (April 8, 1947 – February 24, 2008) was an American musician, singer, songwriter, record label owner, and record producer. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of Christian rock music and released more than 100 albums.
Early life Larry Norman was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, the oldest son of Joe Hendrex "Joe Billy" Norman,Social Security Death Index: Born: December 9, 1923, Died: April 28, 1999; Name: Joe Hendrex Norman Service Info.: SGT US ARMY AIR CORPS WORLD WAR II Birth Date: December 10, 1923, Death Date: April 28, 1999 and his wife, Margaret Evelyn "Margiee" Stout. Joe Norman had served as a sergeant in the US Army Air Corps during World War IIJoe H. Norman, enlisted on October 24, 1942, at San Antonio, Texas. See National Archives and Records Administration. US World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938–1946; Source Information: National Cemetery Administration. US Veterans Gravesites, ca.1775–2006 and worked at the Southern Pacific Railroad"Larry Norman Down Under But Not Out", On Being (1985/1986):4. while studying to become a teacher. After Norman's birth, the family joined the Southern Baptist church.Larry Norman, liner notes, The Cottage Tapes – Book One (1999):8; but cf. "Larry Norman Down Under But Not Out", On Being (1985/1986):4, which suggests it was soon before his birth. In 1950 the family moved to San Francisco, where they attended an African American Pentecostal church and then a Baptist church, where Norman became a Christian at the age of five. In 1959, Norman performed on the syndicated television show The Original Amateur Hour."Larry Norman Down Under But Not Out", On Being (1985/1986).
In 1960, Norman's father began teaching in San Jose, California; the family lived in nearby Campbell. Norman graduated from Campbell High School in 1965 and won an academic scholarship to major in English at San José State University."Larry Norman Down Under But Not Out", On Being (1985/1986):6. After one semester, Norman "flunked out of college and lost [his] scholarship."
Although Norman was able to play a variety of musical instruments, he never learned musical notation.Larry Norman, "A Special Solid Rock Interview", in The Blue Book (1986):10, released in 1989 with Home At Last album.
Career Early bands While still in high school, Norman formed a group called The Back Country Seven, which included his sister Nancy Jo and friend Gene Mason. After graduating, Norman continued performing locally.
In 1966 Norman opened a concert for People! at the Asilomar Conference Grounds in Pacific Grove, California. He later became the band's principal songwriter, sharing lead vocals with his Back Country Seven bandmate Gene Mason. People! performed about 200 concerts a year,Larry Norman, "Liner Notes", I Love You Korea, p.2. appearing with Van Morrison and Them, the Animals, the Dave Clark Five, Paul Revere & the Raiders, the Doors, the Who, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Moby Grape, and San Jose bands Syndicate of Sound and Count Five. The band's cover of the Zombies' "I Love You" became a hit single, selling over one million copies and charting strongly in several markets. Norman left People! just as Capitol released the band's first album in mid 1968, but reunited with Mason for concerts in 1974 and 2006. According to rock historian Walter Rasmussen, Pete Townshend once said that The Who's 1969 album Tommy was inspired by the rock opera "Epic" by People!;Powell 2002, p. 633-634.Wally Rasmussen, liner notes, "About the Author", Larry Norman: White Blossoms From Black Roots (SRD-030) (1988):4. however, Townshend has since denied the connection.
Hollywood street ministry Soon after Norman left People!, he had "a powerful spiritual encounter that threw him into a frenzy of indecision about his life [and] for the first time in his life, he received what he understood to be the Holy Spirit".Stowe 2011, p. 36-37.
In July 1968, following a job offer to write musicals for Capitol Records, Norman moved to Los Angeles where he "spent time sharing the gospel on the streets". As he described in 2006: "I walked up and down Hollywood Boulevard several times a day ... witnessing to businessmen and hippies, and to whomever the Spirit led me. I spent all of my Capitol Records' royalties starting a halfway house and buying clothes and food for new converts." He was initially associated with the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, and its Salt Company coffee house outreach ministry, where he explored and pioneered the rock-gospel genre.
Musical theatre In 1968 Norman wrote several songs for the rock musicals Alison and Birthday for Shakespeare, both of which were performed in Los Angeles.Norman 1972, p. 9.11 songs from Birthday for Shakespeare are included on Norman's 2007 album Motorola Corolla 2.Norman 1972, p. 10.
The next year, Norman and his friend Teddy Neeley auditioned for the Los Angeles production of the rock musical Hair and were offered the roles of George Berger and Claude Bukowski, respectively; Neeley accepted, but Norman rejected the role of George, despite his own financial struggles, because "of its glorification of drugs and free sex as the answers to today's problems". Also in 1969, Norman wrote a musical called Love on Haight Street and a rock opera called Lion's Breath, which led Capitol to re-sign Norman to record an album, with the promise of complete creative control.Shaw, Paul, "About the Artist", So Long Ago the Garden (30th Anniversary Edition 1973–2003), SRD-006."About the Artist", Only Visiting This Planet (2004).
Recording career
In 1969, Capitol Records released Norman's first solo album, Upon This Rock, produced by Hal Yoergler, is now considered to be "the first full-blown Christian rock album".Thompson 2000, p. 49-52. Norman was denounced by various television evangelists, and Capitol deemed the album a commercial flop and dropped Norman from the label. However, his music gained a large following in the emerging countercultural movements.High Fidelity 20:7–12 (1970):112. Sales of the album rose following its distribution in Christian bookstores.
By the early 1970s, Norman was performing frequently for large audiences, and appeared at several Christian music festivals, including Explo '72, a six-day Dallas event which has been called the "Jesus Woodstock." Norman established a half-way house where he "housed and fed various groups of people, supervised their Bible studies and drove them to church on Fridays and Sundays".Larry Norman, "The White Cottage", liner notes, And the Rampions Run Wild: The Cottage Tapes – Book Two (2000 CD). He earned $80 per month from Capitol for polishing and refining songs for Capitol artists. In 1970, Norman began a record label, One Way Records. He released two of his own albums Street Level and Bootleg on the label as well as Randy Stonehill's first album, Born Twice.
In 1971, Norman first visited England where he lived and worked for several years. He recorded two studio albums, Only Visiting This Planet and So Long Ago the Garden, in London's AIR Studios. Released in 1972, Visiting "was meant to reach the flower children disillusioned by the government and the church" with its "abrasive, urban reality of the gospel", and has often been ranked as Norman's best album. The release of Garden in November 1973 was met with controversy in the Christian press, due to the album's cover art and some songs in which Norman took the persona of a backslider.
In 1974, Norman founded Solid Rock Records to produce records for Christian artists "who didn't want to be consumed by the business of making vinyl pancakes but who wanted to make something 'non-commercial' to the world".Howard and Streck 2004, p. 163. Norman produced music on the label for artists including Randy Stonehill, Mark Heard and Tom Howard. Norman also worked with several artists who were signed to other labels, including Malcolm and Alwyn, Bobby Emmons and the Crosstones, Lyrix, James Sundquist and David Edwards. Norman signed a deal with ABC Records to distribute Solid Rock's releases, but was later moved to ABC subsidiary Word Records. In the same year, Norman founded the Christian artist booking agency Street Level Artists Agency.
In Another Land, the third album in Norman's trilogy and the best-selling album of his career, was released in 1976 by Solid Rock and distributed through Word. Soon afterward, Norman recorded the blues-rock concept album Something New under the Son, but it would not be released until 1981.Some sources indicate the album was recorded in 1977. See ; the original cover has "1977" written on it. Following clashes with Word over Something New and several other projects, Norman started Phydeaux Records in 1980 to release his albums.
In 1978, Norman was injured during a plane landing at Los Angeles International Airport. Norman claimed to have suffered mild brain damage due to being hit by parts of the cabin's roof, and that this damage left him unable to complete projects and focus artistically.Larry Norman, "A Special Solid Rock Interview", in Norman 1989, p. 10. William Ayers wrote in 1991: "As family, friends and fans watched, his life spiraled downward. He was unable to record a bonafide album from the time of his airplane accident in 1978 until ... he attempted to release the badly produced Home at Last [recorded in 1986]. He never expected to be healed."
In September 1979, Norman performed his "The Great American Novel", "a Dylanesque protest song", for U.S. president Jimmy Carter and about 1,000 guests at the Old Fashioned Gospel Singin concert held on the south lawn of the White House.
Following a prolonged dispute with Solid Rock artists Daniel Amos which ended in estrangement, Solid Rock's business manager, Philip Mangano, and several Solid Rock musicians organized an intervention with Norman in June 1980, which led him to begin closing the company. Religious history professor Randall Balmer attributed the company's demise to "idealism, marital difficulties, and financial naivete—as well as changing musical tastes."
In late 1980, Norman moved to England and, with his father, founded Phydeaux Records, a company designed to compete with the bootleg market by selling rarities from Norman's own archives.Larry Norman, "The Germans", (June 18, 2007). He signed a distribution deal with British label Chapel Lane and released several albums before returning to the United States in 1985. Norman then began work on an anthology project celebrating his career in Christian music, beginning with the album White Blossoms from Black Roots: The History and the Chronology: Volume One;Liner Notes, White Blossoms From Black Roots (1997). however, the project collapsed when the head of the distribution company was arrested for check forgery and the company's merchandise was seized by the FBI.
Norman signed to Benson Records in 1986 and recorded the album Home at Last, although the album was not released until 1989 due to legal problems.Norman 1989, p. 20. Despite extensive promotion, the album was negatively reviewed, and Norman himself later dismissed the album as "just a collection of tapes I had", although he said separately that he was "extremely happy" with the level of support he'd received from Benson.Matthew Dickerson, "Home at Last", in Norman 1989, p. 16. In 1989, Norman received the Christian Artists' Society Lifetime Achievement Award.
While visiting another musician at the close of a February 1991 tour, Norman received prayer for his long-term health problems from a pastor of London's Elim Way Fellowship. Norman maintained that through this prayer God repaired the damage to his brain and he was able to function again. That year, he collaborated with his brother Charles on the album Stranded in Babylon, hailed by both critics and fans as one of his best. They would reunite for the 2001 album Tourniquet.