Chris Norman

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Chris Norman, 2008

Christopher Ward "Chris" Norman (born October 25, 1950 in Redcar , United Kingdom ) is a British singer-songwriter . From 1975 to 1986 he was singer and guitarist in the British pop / rock band Smokie .

Career with Smokie

In 1972 Chris Norman, Alan David Silson and Terence "Terry" David Uttley founded the band The Yen, which after the band had changed its name several times, became Smokie. In 1974 they got a recording deal and quickly became popular.

With the single If You Think You Know How to Love Me , Chris Norman and Smokie became famous overnight in Great Britain. In 1977 Chris Norman had his breakthrough with Smokie and the song Living Next Door to Alice . In 1982 Smokie separated, came back together in 1985 and went on tour. In 1986 Chris Norman finally separated from the band.

Solo career

In 1978 Chris Norman recorded the song Stumblin 'In with Suzi Quatro , which became a great commercial success, especially in Germany . With Pete Spencer, Norman focused on producing songs for other artists ; Among them was the 1979 title Head over Heels in Love by Kevin Keegan , which reached number 31 in the British and number ten in the German single charts . Chris Norman also worked with Agnetha Fältskog from ABBA on her solo album ; also for Donovan .

1986 Chris Norman was successful as a solo singer with Midnight Lady , the theme song of the Schimanski - crime scene episode Der Tausch . This song, written by Dieter Bohlen , was number 1 in Germany for six weeks and sold around 900,000 times. In 1988 Chris Norman was successful with Broken Heroes , another Bohlen production. The song reached number 3 in the German charts and was heard as the title track in the Schimanski Tatort Broken Flowers .

After working with Bohlen, things calmed down around Chris Norman; nevertheless, he released an album almost every year. In 1994, Norman worked again with Bohlen on the soundtrack for the ZDF series Die Stadtindianer .

In the 1990s Chris Norman worked with various producers, including a. David Brandes , who also wrote Send a Sign to My Heart , a duet with Lory Bianco. Chris Norman wrote some of his songs himself. His greatest success was the single Sarah in the 1980s. In 1992 he repeated his collaboration with Suzi Quatro for the single I Need Your Love , which was written by himself and released on Brandes label Icezone Music .

In 1995 Chris Norman was named "Video Artist of the Year" by the American music channel CMT for his videos Jealous Heart and The Growing Years (singles released in Great Britain). Also in 1995, Chris Norman produced the songs Those Were the Days and his own title Walking in the Rain for Cynthia Lennon , the first wife of his great idol John Lennon . The single was released on his own label Dice Music LTD in the UK.

In 1996 Chris Norman sang the title song Fearless Hearts for the German television series Alarm Code 112 .

On the album Christmas Together , which Chris Norman recorded with the Riga Dome Boys Choir, he sang classical songs for the first time, including the Latin hymn Panis Angelicus; the album was named "Album of the Year" in Latvia.

Chris Norman's 2003 album is Handmade . It also contains Angel of Berlin by Robin Grubert, which was released as a single a year later by the star search winner Martin Kesici and reached number 1 in the German singles charts.

In 2004, Chris Norman won the ProSieben show Comeback - The Big Chance and then released the single Amazing , which made it into the top ten. This marked his greatest success since Broken Heroes 1989. The album Break Away and a tour followed. In the same year Chris Norman got his own star on the “Walk of Fame” in Vienna (Austria) and was also awarded the prize for the best male voice by the German broadcaster Radio Regenbogen .

In April 2005 the DVD One Acoustic Evening with concert excerpts and interviews was released. This rose to number 5 in the German DVD charts and number 8 in Austria . In November and December 2007, Chris Norman toured Germany and Austria with his acoustic album Close Up . He was accompanied on this tour by the Fiorini Quartet .

As part of a raffle by Bayerischer Rundfunk entitled Bayern-1 -Wohnzimmertour, in which other well-known musicians took part ( Shakin 'Stevens and the Seer group ), Norman performed an eight-song performance in November 2007.

His album The Hits! From His Smokie and Solo Years including a DVD Live in Berlin, Acoustic Tour 2007 was released on February 13, 2009 and achieved gold status. In 2009 he toured Europe and Australia, and in 2010 Norman toured Russia.

In 2011 his album Time Traveler was released, in 2013 the album There & Back and 2015 Crossover . In September 2017 the album Don´t Knock The Rock followed.

Private life

On October 27, 2001, Norman's son Brian was killed in a motorcycle accident. Marked by this loss, he became a volunteer ambassador for the Children's Hospice Central Germany Nordhausen Foundation , for which he gave charity concerts in September 2006 and August 2010. He dedicated the album Handmade to his son Brian .

Norman lives on the Isle of Man with his wife Linda and their four remaining children .

Discography

Smokie

Solo career

Albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks / months, awardChart placementsChart placementsTemplate: chart table / maintenance / monthly data
(Year, title, rankings, weeks / months, awards, notes)
Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH UK UK US US
1986 Some Hearts Are Diamonds DE14 (11 weeks)
DE
AT22 (1 month)
AT
CH9 (5 weeks)
CH
- -
2000 Full circle DE32 (5 weeks)
DE
- - - -
Producer: David Brandes
2004 Break away DE27 (3 weeks)
DE
AT52 (2 weeks)
AT
CH76 (1 week)
CH
- -
2005 One Acoustic Evening - Live DE82 (1 week)
DE
- - - -
Double album, producer: Uwe Lerch
2006 Million miles DE63 (1 week)
DE
- - - -
Producer: Chris Norman
2007 Close up DE94 (1 week)
DE
- - - -
Producer: Chris Norman
2011 Time Traveler DE96 (2 weeks)
DE
- - - -
Producer: Chief 1 (aka Lars Pedersen)
2013 There and Back DE62 (1 week)
DE
- - - -
Producers: Chris Norman, Neil Ferguson
2015 Crossover DE56 (3 weeks)
DE
- - - -
2018 Don't Knock The Rock DE61 (1 week)
DE
- - - -

More albums

  • 1982: Rock Away Your Teardrops
  • 1987: Different Shades
  • 1989: Break the Ice
  • 1991: Interchange
  • 1992: The Growing Years
  • 1993: Jealous Heart
  • 1994: The Album
  • 1995: Reflections
  • 1997: Into the Night
  • 1997: Christmas Together (with Riga Dom Boys Choir)
  • 2001: Breathe Me In
  • 2003: Handmade
  • 2003: A Christmas Collection

Live albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)
Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH UK UK US US
2018 Don't Knock the Rock Tour 2018 - Live Hamburg 2018 DE61 (1 week)
DE
- - - -

Compilations

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)
Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH UK UK US US
1988 Hits from the Heart DE13 (11 weeks)
DE
- - - -
2004 The very best of DE47 (6 weeks)
DE
AT3 (16 weeks)
AT
- - -
2009 The hits! From His Smokie and Solo Years DE47 (2 weeks)
DE
- - - -

More compilations

  • 1988: Midnight Lady
  • 1989: Hearts on Fire
  • 1991: Star Collection - Midnight Lady
  • 1993: Golden Stars - Golden Hits
  • 1993: Midnight Lady
  • 1993: The Gallery Volume 3
  • 1993: A Portrait of Chris Norman
  • 1995: The Best of 20 Years (with Smokie)
  • 1996: The Very Best Of
  • 1999: Midnight Lady
  • 2004: Heartbreaking Hits
  • 2004: The Very Best Of
  • 2005: My Best Songs
  • 2006: Coming Home
  • 2008: The Complete Story of Chris Norman (box with 5 CDs)

Singles

year Title
album
Top ranking, total weeks / months, awardChart placementsChart placementsTemplate: chart table / maintenance / monthly data
(Year, title, album , rankings, weeks / months, awards, notes)
Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH UK UK US US
1978 Stumblin 'In
If You Knew Suzi ...
DE2
gold
gold

(20 weeks)DE
AT6 (4 months)
AT
CH7 (10 weeks)
CH
UK41 (8 weeks)
UK
US4th
gold
gold

(22 weeks)US
1986 Midnight Lady
Some Hearts Are Diamonds
DE1
gold
gold

(18 weeks)DE
AT1
gold
gold

(4 months)AT
CH1 (14 weeks)
CH
- -
Sales: + 1,000,000
Author: Dieter Bohlen
Some Hearts Are Diamonds
Some Hearts Are Diamonds
DE14 (12 weeks)
DE
AT7 (2½ months)
AT
CH12 (5 weeks)
CH
- -
Author: Dieter Bohlen
1987 No Arms Can Ever Hold You
Some Hearts Are Diamonds
DE52 (6 weeks)
DE
- - - -
Author: Dieter Bohlen
Sarah (You Take My Breath Away)
Different Shades
DE46 (6 weeks)
DE
- - - -
Authors: Chris Norman, Pete Spencer
1988 I Want to Be Needed
Hits from the Heart
DE63 (3 weeks)
DE
- - - -
with Shari Belafonte
authors Jeff Silverman, Phil Shenale
Broken Heroes
Hits from the Heart
DE3 (12 weeks)
DE
AT7 (1½ months)
AT
- - -
from the soundtrack of the film Zärtliche Chaoten II
Author: Dieter Bohlen
1991 If You Need My Love Tonight
Interchange
DE84 (3 weeks)
DE
- - - -
Authors: Chris Norman, Ken Taylor , Günter Lammers, Ronaldo Bastos
2002 I close my eyes (Everytime)
The Very Best Of
DE59 (9 weeks)
DE
AT8 (23 weeks)
AT
- - -
with Nino de Angelo
Authors: Chris Norman, Nino de Angelo, Alberto Mastrofrancesco
2004 Amazing
break away
DE9 (8 weeks)
DE
AT15 (8 weeks)
AT
CH48 (4 weeks)
CH
- -
Authors: Joachim Nilsson, Johan Bobäck, Mirko von Schlieffen, Terri Bjerre
For You
The Very Best Of
DE52 (4 weeks)
DE
AT59 (3 weeks)
AT
- - -
Authors: David Brandes , John O'Flynn

More singles

  • 1982: Hey baby
  • 1983: Love Is a Battlefield
  • 1984: My Girl and Me
  • 1986: Lay Back in the Arms of Someone (Smokie feat. Chris Norman)
  • 1988: Wings of Love
  • 1988: Ordinary Heart
  • 1989: Back Again
  • 1989: Keep the Candle Burning
  • 1990: The Night Has Turn Cold
  • 1992. Goodbye Lady Blue
  • 1992: I Need Your Love (with Suzi Quatro)
  • 1993: Come Together
  • 1994: Red Hot Screaming Love
  • 1994: Wild Wild Angel
  • 1994: As Good as it Gets
  • 1995: obsession
  • 1997: Into the Night
  • 1999: Mexican Girl
  • 1999: Oh Carol
  • 2001: When the Indians Cry
  • 2003: Keep Talking
  • 2004: Too Much (And Not Enough)
  • 2004: Only You
  • 2004: Baby I Miss You
  • 2005: Heart & Soul
  • 2005: Find My Way
  • 2013: Gypsy Queen
  • 2014: Another Night in Nashville (with CC Catch )
  • 2015: Waiting
  • 2015. That's Christmas

Video albums

  • 2005: An Accoustic Evening / Live in Vienna (2 DVDs)
  • 2012: Time Traveler Tour (Live in Concert Germany 2011) (DVD)

Web links

Commons : Chris Norman  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

swell

  1. credits
  2. Information from the Official Fan Club, Chris Norman
  3. ^ Abendblatt.de: Smokie singer mourns his son
  4. welt.de: Chris Norman's secret production
  5. Chris is coming . NNZ online, June 23, 2006
  6. Biography at chrisnorman-fc.com
  7. a b c d Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US1
  8. a b c d gold / platinum databases DE US
  9. European Gold & Platinum Awards 1986. Music & Media, December 27, 1986, accessed November 28, 2019 (English, PDF file, page 34).
  10. Chris Norman - "Midnight Lady". ndr.de, August 12, 2015, accessed April 1, 2019 .