Biography
Norman Smith, who later performed under the name Hurricane, pursued two separate paths in music, beginning as a leading recording engineer before emerging as a pop vocalist whose releases reached the Top Ten in both America and Britain. Born February 22, 1923, in North London, England, he flew gliders for the Royal Air Force in World War II. Once the war ended, he played drums and piano in several traditional jazz ensembles, though this work never gained traction. In 1959 he joined EMI’s Abbey Road studio in London as an apprentice engineer, concealing his true age of 35 to satisfy the label’s limit of applicants under 28. Starting as a tape operator, he advanced to balance engineer under staff producer George Martin. When an unpolished Liverpool quartet auditioned at the studio, Smith’s support for the song “Love Me Do” helped secure their contract with the label. From 1962 through 1965 he engineered every Beatles session and received the nickname “Norman Normal” from John Lennon. In 1966 EMI elevated him to A&R and production duties; he signed Pink Floyd and produced their first two albums, along with the Pretty Things’ groundbreaking concept album S.F. Sorrow and several LPs by Barclay James Harvest. In 1972 he stepped away from engineering to record as a performer, taking the stage name Hurricane Smith from a film he admired. He cut a series of sentimental, old-fashioned numbers he had written and delivered them in his warm, slightly rough voice. The track “Oh Babe, What Would You Say?” became an unexpected success in the United States and the United Kingdom, turning the middle-aged engineer into a pop attraction. He enjoyed further hits in Britain but remained a one-hit wonder in America; by the mid-1970s he had returned to production and engineering work. In the 1980s he left the music industry to breed horses, yet in 2003 he issued a new album, From Me to You, under the Hurricane Smith name, revisiting earlier material and recounting episodes from his career. He also privately published the memoir John Lennon Called Me Normal, which chronicled his time with the Beatles. After its 2007 release he gave readings at Beatles fan conventions, his final public appearances before his death on March 3, 2008.
Albums
