Norrie Paramor

Norman William “Norrie” Paramor (born May 15, 1914 in London ; † September 9, 1979 ) was one of the most successful British producers of pop music and has significantly influenced the careers of Cliff Richard and the Shadows in particular.

Career

Paramor had learned to play the piano and started playing the pianist with dance bands in 1929 when he was just 15 years old and had left high school prematurely. He then arranged for the Jack Harris and Maurice Winnick dance bands . With the Royal Air Force he played from 1941 during the Second World War in a military band and came there to the Ralph Reader Gang Show , of which he became musical director. After the war, he played piano for Harry Gold's band Pieces of Eight from 1945 , where he recorded, for example, Did You Ever Try Fryin 'Snowballs (recorded on February 9, 1949) or Boo-Bee-Oo-Bee (13. October 1949) participated. After a short interlude as the leader of his own band "Norrie Paramor & His Octet", he appeared as an accompanist for Beatrice Kay at the classic Old Piano Roll Blues on March 14, 1950 and then played Let's with his band for Marie Benson on May 15, 1950 Do it again one.

In 1951 Paramor got his own record deal with the EMI subsidiary Columbia Records , where he and his band recorded the Banjo Rag (Columbia DB # 2981) in late 1951 . Five more singles followed in 1952 with authentic Dixieland or Rag material.

Columbia Records producer

Eddie Calvert - Oh, my papa

From 1952 he switched from interpreter to producer behind the microphone, at that time still known as recording director . His career as a producer helped Abbey Road Studios and Columbia Records quickly to a first place in the British charts. Paramor produced the instrumental hits of the trumpeter Eddie Calvert , beginning with Hora Staccato in January 1953. On July 29, 1953 Paramor produced the Swiss composition Oh, Mein Papa for him , which after its release in September 1953 became the first million seller of the Columbia label and the Abbey Road Studios advanced. From September 1954 he produced the ballad singer Ruby Murray , whose second single Heartbeat was able to penetrate to third place on the British charts. The single Softly, Softly , released in January 1955, came out on top. From 1955 on, Paramor also oversaw the sound recordings of ballad singer Michael Holliday , beginning with the cover version of The Yellow Rose of Texas, recorded on August 23, 1955 . The successful collaboration resulted in two top hits, namely the track Story Of My Life, recorded on December 10, 1957, and the song Starry Eyed, recorded on November 6, 1959 .

From 1957 the British record labels tried harder to win their own interpreters for Rock & Roll , the American archetype of which dominated the British charts. Although Paramor preferred ballads and light pop music, he managed the title Teach You To Rock by Tony Crombie & His Rockets, classified by the experts as the first British rock and roll recording , released in October 1956. Produced by Paramor, Crombie was actually a jazz - Drummer, but this title only reached a disappointing number 25 on the UK charts. There was an unspoken competition in the search for suitable British rock stars between Paramor and George Martin , who was label boss and producer at the same time at the sister label Parlophone. Martin had not yet been able to show any success in the search.

Cliff Richard and the Shadows

In early July 1958, Paramor received a demonstration tape with a young singer from coffee bars (such as " The 2i's ") named Harry Webb (aka Cliff Richard) and his accompanying group Drifters (aka Shadows). Before any success materialized, Paramor was named Artist & Repertoire Director at Columbia. At first he only wanted to record Cliff Richard, but not his backing band Drifters. Recorded on July 24, 1958, Move It! / Schoolboy Crush therefore not the Drifters (Shadows) can be heard in full, but only the composer and their guitarist Ian "Sammy" Samwell and, if requested by Paramors, studio musicians Ernie Shear (guitar) and bassist Frank Clarke. The day after, Cliff Richard receives a record deal. The result of the recording session was an authentic rock & roll recording which, after its release on August 29, 1958, stormed to second place in the British charts, favored by appearances on Jack Goods TV music show Oh Boy on September 13, 1958 or on the BBC “Saturday Club “on October 25, 1958.

When it came time for Richard's first album, Paramor had an idea that had been unusual in the pop industry. He produced a live album on February 9 and 10, 1959 with hundreds of screaming fans - albeit invited to Studio 1 at Abbey Road. For this purpose, the studio was converted into a dance hall. After its release on April 1, 1959, the album reached fourth place on the British LP charts and achieved the status of a milestone in early British rock music.

Cliff Richard - Living Doll

At the same time, it was the beginning of a production collaboration that could hardly be beaten. The first number one and the first million seller was produced on April 28, 1958 with Living Doll , and the successor hit Travellin 'Light , which was made on July 25, 1958 , also reached the top position. That made a total of 9 titles, except for The Minute You're Gone , directed by Paramor. Paramor produced a total of 62 singles for Cliff Richard (from Move It! To Living In Harmony , which was released in August 1972), numerous EPs and 24 LPs. Then Dave Mackay took over the production direction of A Brandnew Song , and on December 28, 1972, Power To All Our Friends was able to revive the declining hit appeal of Cliff Richard.

Initially, the Shadows were used exclusively as a companion group for Cliff Richard recordings and performances. The high instrumental quality of the band gave Paramor the idea to market the Shadows as an instrumental group independently. This concept worked because Paramor produced a seldom surpassed hit series of catchy instrumental hits for the Shadows. Their second single, Apache , became a million seller worldwide after its release on July 16, 1960 and reached first place in the British charts. The Shadows' Wonderful Land was ranked number 1 for eight weeks in 1962, longer than any Beatles play . He produced a total of 30 singles by March 1968, with a time window for instrumental recordings in the British hit parade until 1964. Between 1960 and 1964, Paramor directed a total of five hits that made it to the top of the charts - all of them rhythm-intensive and melodic instrumental hits.

Further successes as a producer

Norrie Paramor, however, was by no means fully occupied by the intensive and productive collaboration with Cliff Richard and the Shadows. He had time to look after other British pop performers as well. Frank Ifield , versatile enough to interpret both ballads and pop music, came to London on November 5, 1959 and signed with the Columbia label. Paramor patiently worked on the first top hit, which only came about on May 27, 1962 with the yodeled title I Remember You . Ifield played him the song with yodelling from the film "The Fleet's In" (Dorothy Lamour, 1942) on guitar, Paramor was amazed and booked the studio. The harmonica initially plays the first bars of Waltzing Matilda , followed by guitar runs and falsetto singing. After the record hit the market on June 29, 1962, it sold over two million copies worldwide, 1.096 million in Great Britain alone. The silver record was awarded after just two weeks, and 102,500 copies were sold on July 17, 1962 alone. The title sparked a hit sequence of two more consecutive top placements for Ifield, who rose to become the only British artist with this record. Interrupted by Nobody's Darling But Mine , Ifield achieved number one with Confessin ' , again produced by Paramor on November 14, 1962.

The Beatles were not yet known when Paramor's longtime assistant John Schroeder discovered 13-year-old Helen Shapiro in high school in 1960 . Paramor thought he heard the voice of a boy while listening to the demo tape. Schroeder composed the suitable protest song Don't Treat Me Like A Child for her , which was composed on January 16, 1961 in Abbey Road. He was able to work his way up to a third place, while the You Don't Know (published on June 23, 1961) and the subsequent single Walking Back To Happinnes (September 22, 1961) were again written by John Schroeder / John Hawker. both could reach the top position.

In 1958 Paramor produced Which Witch Doctor for the girl duo Avons (who wrote Dance On for The Shadows). On November 20, 1959, Paramor signed a record deal with rock singer Toni Eden. Paramor often contributed to Cliff Richard songs by playing the piano or his paramor strings accompanying the singer. Paramor ushered Richard into softer pop styles when he realized in 1961 that real rock & roll was no longer in demand. Cliff now also sang ballads without shadows - a concept that worked because EMI was able to present two interpreters.

Since April 1966 the Trio Scaffold was in the care of the successful producer George Martin. After him, other producers also tried to bring the humor trio to success, in the ranks of which was the brother of Paul McCartney , Mike McGear . On February 20, 1968 Paramor finally took over the controls, and after two unsuccessful singles he produced the traditional Lily The Pink with them on August 9, 1968 , which became a million seller. When there was no further success, Paramor handed over his role to colleagues. In that year 1968 Paramor had set up its own manufacturing company.

Orchestra conductor and composer

In addition to his main job as a record producer, Paramor always found time to record with his orchestra. He also composed numerous pop songs. These included Paramambo , Silly Billy and Wedding Day for his orchestra (1954). Paramor conducted the Josef Locke Orchestra between October 1953 and May 1955. His compositions were successful for other performers, including A Voice In the Wilderness (published January 1960) for Cliff Richard, The Frightened City (April 1961) and The Savage / Peace Pipe (November 1961) for the Shadows.

From 1954 Paramor played singles and LPs with his orchestra or had his orchestra accompany other performers. So did the US singer and actress Judy Garland , who was accompanied by the Norrie Paramor Orchestra. In a productive session between August 2, 1960 and August 8, 1960, a total of 20 titles were created in seven days. The double album with the titles Judy in London - produced by Norman Newell by the way - was only released posthumously in 1972.

In 1972 Paramor left the British record company - now with EMI for 20 years - and returned to the role of orchestra director. Between 1973 and 1978 he was director of the BBC Radio Midland Orchestra , which had previously been without a conductor for a short time. Occasionally he produced groups like the Excaliburs - now independently . In 1979 one of the most important pop producers in British music history died of cancer.

Film music

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Singles

Theme From "A Summer Place"   UK 36 03/23/1960 (2 weeks) Theme From "Z Cars"   UK 33 03/28/1962 (6 weeks)

• 1961: The Whip (The Frightened City)
• 1961: Twen hit parade (It's trad, Dad)
• 1962: She has the last word (A Pair of Briefs)
• 1963: Doctor in Distress
• 1963: O Darling - what traffic (The Fast Lady)
• 1964: Oh, you dear father (Father came too)
• 1966: Help, the bomb is gone! (Finders, Keepers)
• 1970: Incest (My Lover, my Son)
• 1979: Kashmiri Run

statistics

Norrie Paramor produced a total of 771 titles in Abbey Road Studios, only surpassed by colleague George Martin on sister label Parlophone. A total of 25 titles made it to first place on the British charts. He composed over 50 titles. On October 17, 1958, he received the unofficial title of "Artist & Repertoire Manager of the Year" from the music magazine New Musical Express .

Web links

• Literature by and about Norrie Paramor in the catalog of the German National Library
• Norrie Paramor in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Norrie Paramor at Allmusic (English)
• Norrie Paramor at Discogs

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Gordon Thompson, Please Please Me, Sixties British Pop - Inside Out , 2008, p. 52 ff.
2. ^ George Martin, All You Need Is Ears (1979), 120.
3. ↑ Patrik Doncester / Tony Jasper, Cliff , 1981, p. 46.
4. ^ New Musical Express of January 23, 1959 ( Memento of February 19, 2003 in the Internet Archive )
5. ^ Joseph Murrells, Million Selling Records , 1985, p. 133.
6. ↑ this recording was produced on August 25, 1964 by Billy Sherrill in Nashville
7. ^ Joseph Murrells, Million Selling Records , 1985, p. 164.
8. ^ Joseph Murrells, Million Selling Records , 1985, p. 270.
9. ^ Chicago (That Toddling Town) / Do It Again / Lucky Day / Stormy Weather ; on August 3rd I Happened To Like New York / Swanee / Why Was I Born? / You'll Never Walk Alone ; on August 4th Come Rain or Come Shine / The Man That Got Away - Over The Rainbow / San Francisco ; on August 5th, Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe / Medley: You Made Me Love You / For Me and My Gal / The Trolley Song / Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody / You Go to My Head
10. ↑ After You've Gone / I Can't Give You Anything but Love (Baby) / It's A Great Day For The Irish / Judy at The Palace
11. ↑ Judy Garland homepage via the album  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
12. ^ Reuben & Naomi Musicians / David Adés, Conductors And Composers of Popular Orchestral Music , 1998, p. 210.
13. ↑ Chart sources: UK
14. ↑ PopmusicInfo about Norrie Paramor