44 Facts About Larry Norman

Larry David Norman was an American musician, singer, songwriter, record label owner, and record producer.

Larry Norman is considered to be one of the pioneers of Christian rock music and released more than 100 albums.

Joe Norman had served as a sergeant in the US Army Air Corps during World War II and worked at the Southern Pacific Railroad while studying to become a teacher.

In 1950 the family moved to San Francisco, where they attended an African American Pentecostal church and then a Baptist church, where Larry Norman became a Christian at the age of five.

In 1959, Larry Norman performed on the syndicated television show The Original Amateur Hour.

In 1960, Larry Norman's father began teaching in San Jose, California; the family lived in nearby Campbell.

Larry Norman graduated from Campbell High School in 1965 and won an academic scholarship to major in English at San Jose State University.

Larry Norman later became the band's principal songwriter, sharing lead vocals with his Back Country Seven bandmate Gene Mason.

In July 1968, following a job offer to write musicals for Capitol Records, Larry Norman moved to Los Angeles where he "spent time sharing the gospel on the streets".

In 1968 Larry Norman wrote several songs for the rock musicals Alison and Birthday for Shakespeare, both of which were performed in Los Angeles.

Also in 1969, Larry Norman wrote a musical called Love on Haight Street and a rock opera called Lion's Breath, which led Capitol to re-sign Larry Norman to record an album, with the promise of complete creative control.

Larry Norman was denounced by various television evangelists, and Capitol deemed the album a commercial flop and dropped Larry Norman from the label.

Larry Norman earned $80 per month from Capitol for polishing and refining songs for Capitol artists.

In 1970, Larry Norman began a record label, One Way Records.

Larry Norman 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, Larry Norman first visited England where he lived and worked for several years.

Larry Norman recorded two studio albums, Only Visiting This Planet and So Long Ago the Garden, in London's AIR Studios.

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 Larry Norman took the persona of a backslider.

In 1974, Larry 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".

Larry Norman produced music on the label for artists including Randy Stonehill, Mark Heard and Tom Howard.

Larry Norman 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.

Larry Norman signed a deal with ABC Records to distribute Solid Rock's releases, but was later moved to ABC subsidiary Word Records.

In 1978, Larry Norman was injured during a plane landing at Los Angeles International Airport.

Larry 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 was unable to record a bonafide album from the time of his airplane accident in 1978 until.

In September 1979, Larry Norman performed his "The Great American Novel", "a Dylanesque protest song", for US president Jimmy Carter and about 1,000 guests at the Old Fashioned Gospel Singin concert held on the south lawn of the White House.

In late 1980, Larry Norman moved to England and, with his father, founded Phydeaux Records, a company designed to compete with the bootleg market by selling rarities from Larry Norman's own archives.

Larry Norman signed a distribution deal with British label Chapel Lane and released several albums before returning to the United States in 1985.

Larry 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; 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.

Larry 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.

In 1989, Larry Norman received the Christian Artists' Society Lifetime Achievement Award.

Larry Norman maintained that through this prayer God repaired the damage to his brain and he was able to function again.

Larry Norman continued to perform and release albums throughout his later years in order to raise funds for medical expenses stemming from heart problems.

Larry Norman gave his last official concert on August 4,2007, in New York City.

Larry Norman disapproved of Christian musicians who were unwilling to play in secular venues or to "preach" between songs.

Larry Norman criticized what he saw as the "commercialization of Christian music in America", including the role of copyrights and licensing.

Larry Norman paid for the recording of Executioner's first EP in 1982, on the condition that they record one of his songs.

Pixies frontman Black Francis described Larry Norman as having been his "total idol" as a teenager, whom he attempted to imitate.

The band's first demo, The Purple Tape, was to contain a cover of Larry Norman's song "Watch What You're Doing", but it was never released.

Larry Norman married actress and model Pamela Fay Ahlquist in December 1971.

In 2008, World magazine speculated Larry Norman fathered a son with an Australian woman during a 1988 tour, although definitive proof was never presented.

In February 1992, Larry Norman suffered a nine-hour heart attack that resulted in permanent heart damage, leading to frequent hospitalizations in the years that followed.

Gregory Alan Thornbury's biography of Larry Norman proposes an alternate date and reason for Solid Rock Records being wound up and the artists released from their contracts.

Since the 1960s, Larry Norman's work has appeared on over 100 albums, compilations, and concert bootlegs.