Norman Smith

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Norman Smith (born February 22, 1923 in London , England , † March 3, 2008 in East Sussex , England), called "Normal Smith", was a British sound engineer , record producer and musician. He became known as a sound engineer for the Beatles and producer of the first Pink Floyd albums .

Live and act

From 1960 to 1965 Smith was employed as a sound engineer at EMI and worked at Abbey Road Studios . In this role he worked on all of the Beatles' albums until 1965. The last album he recorded with them was Rubber Soul . He was succeeded by Geoff Emerick .

Smith was then "promoted" to producer and produced - also at Abbey Road Studios - the first three albums of Pink Floyd ( The Piper at the Gates of Dawn , A Saucerful of Secrets and Ummagumma , the latter with the band). During the recording of the song Remember a Day , Pink Floyd's drummer ( Nick Mason ) couldn't get along with part of the song, after which Smith recorded this part himself.

In 1971 Smith was successful under the pseudonym "Hurricane Smith" as a singer with the song Don't Let It Die in Great Britain. In 1972 it was followed by a number one hit on the US cash box charts (Oh Babe What Would You Say?) . This song was originally intended only as a demo for another artist; However, producer Mickie Most liked the demo so much that he released it as it was. More smaller hits from Smith followed in the 1970s. In the 1980s and 1990s, Smith largely withdrew from the music business.

In 2004 Smith released a CD entitled From Me to You, which contained re-recordings of his old hits. The accompanying texts were written by Paul McCartney and members of Pink Floyd , among others .

In 2007, Smith's memoir appeared under the title John Lennon Called Me Normal - initially only as an exclusive version, which was only available at a Beatles festival.

Norman Smith died on March 3, 2008 at the age of 85.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Dead Rock Stars Club 2008 January to June. In: thedeadrockstarsclub.com. Retrieved September 1, 2017 .
  2. ^ Norman Hurricane Smith "The Sound of The Beatles". In: earcandymag.com. Retrieved September 1, 2017 .
  3. ^ David Roberts: British Hit Singles & Albums . 19th edition. Guinness World Records Limited, London 2006, ISBN 978-1-904994-10-7 , pp. 509 (English).
personal data
SURNAME Smith, Norman
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Smith, Normal; Smith, Hurricane
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British sound engineer, record producer and musician
DATE OF BIRTH February 22, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH London , England
DATE OF DEATH March 3, 2008
Place of death East Sussex , England