Larry Norman
Larry David Norman (April 8, 1947 – February 24, 2008)[1][2] 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[3][4] and released more than 100 albums.
For the canoeist, see Larry Norman (canoeist).
Larry Norman
Larry David Norman
April 8, 1947
Corpus Christi, Texas, U.S.
San Jose, California, U.S.
February 24, 2008 (aged 60)
Salem, Oregon, U.S.
1966–2007
- Capitol
- MGM/Verve
- Solid Rock
- Phydeaux
Early life[edit]
Larry Norman was born in Corpus Christi, Texas,[5] the oldest son of Joe Hendrex "Joe Billy" Norman (December 9, 1923 – April 28, 1999),[6] and his wife, Margaret Evelyn "Marge" Stout (born in 1925 in Nebraska).[7][8] Joe Norman had served as a sergeant in the US Army Air Corps during World War II[9] and worked at the Southern Pacific Railroad[10] while studying to become a teacher.[11] After Norman's birth, the family joined the Southern Baptist church.[12] 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.[13][14][15] In 1959, Norman performed on the syndicated television show The Original Amateur Hour.[16]
In 1960, Norman's father began teaching in San Jose, California; the family lived in nearby Campbell.[17] Norman graduated from Campbell High School in 1965[18][19][20] and won an academic scholarship to major in English at San José State University.[21] After one semester, Norman "flunked out of college and lost [his] scholarship."[22]
Although Norman was able to play a variety of musical instruments, he never learned to read or write musical notation.[23]
Career[edit]
Early bands[edit]
While still in high school, Norman formed a group called The Back Country Seven, which included his sister Nancy Jo and friend Gene Mason.[17] 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.[24] People! performed about 200 concerts a year,[25] 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.[26] 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.[27] 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.[28] 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!;[29][30] however, Townshend has since denied the connection.[31]
Hollywood street ministry[edit]
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".[32]
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".[33][34] 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."[35][36] He was initially associated with the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood,[37] and its Salt Company coffee house outreach ministry,[38][39] where he explored and pioneered the rock-gospel genre.[36][40]
Musical theatre[edit]
In 1968 Norman wrote several songs for the rock musicals Alison and Birthday for Shakespeare, both of which were performed in Los Angeles.[41][42][43][44][45][46]
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".[47][48] 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.[49][50][51]
Family[edit]
Norman married actress and model Pamela Fay Ahlquist in December 1971.[159][160] They separated in 1978 and divorced in September 1980.[161][162]
In April 1982, Norman married Sarah Mae Finch.[163] However another source indicates this was in April 1984.[164] Finch had previously been married to Randy Stonehill from 1975 to 1980.[165] The two had first met at a religious retreat in 1969.[38][166] Their only child, Michael David Fariah Finch Norman, was born in August 1985.[77][167][168][169] The couple divorced in 1995.[170]
In 2008, World magazine speculated Norman fathered a son with an Australian woman during a 1988 tour, although definitive proof was never presented.[171][172]
Fallen Angel documentary[edit]
Fallen Angel: The Outlaw Larry Norman: A Bible Story is a controversial 2008 documentary on Norman's life by filmmaker David Di Sabatino. Fallen Angel includes interviews with several people who had worked with or been close to Norman thirty years earlier, including his first wife and Randy Stonehill, who recorded the film's official soundtrack, Paradise Sky.[178][179][180]
Norman and his second wife had refused to participate in or cooperate with the project.[178][181] A cease and desist notice initiated by Norman's family temporarily prevented the film's public screening, and prompted Di Sabatino to file his own lawsuit against Solid Rock in March 2009.[182] Four months later, the case was settled out of court, allowing the film to be shown.[182][183] While interviewing Stonehill, Cross Rhythms' Mike Rimmer said the film portrayed Norman as "Machiavellian, particularly in his dealings with his artists."[181]
Norman's Solid Rock Records was said to have ended when, "Things finally fell apart in 1979, after it was discovered Larry was cheating on his wife – and having an affair with Randy's wife",[94] a claim Norman's brother denies.[184] Gregory Alan Thornbury's biography of Norman proposes an alternate date and reason for Solid Rock Records being wound up and the artists released from their contracts. Word Records signalled they planned to end their relationship with Solid Rock due to poor sales performances of a few of the albums and the infrequent nature of releases being delivered by the label and this news led to a breakdown in the working and personal relationship between Larry Norman and Philip Mangano in May 1980. Some discussions had already begun about certain artists being released from their contracts prior to the meeting on June 17, 1980, which was called to "clear up the relationship between Solid Rock and Street Level Artists Agency, and to deal with Daniel Amos' request to have all their contracts back from Solid Rock — management, recording, tapes, publishing, and so on" and which ended two hours later in stalemate and acrimony rather than resolution.[185]
Since the 1960s, Norman's work has appeared on over 100 albums, compilations, and concert bootlegs. These recordings have been released under various labels and with various artists. Some of his principal albums are: