Biography
Up until the close of the 1960s, Norrie Paramor ranked among EMI's leading figures in producing pop and rock & roll material. In England during a certain period, his stood out as the sole producer's name that teenagers could be expected to know, owing to his more than ten years of collaboration with pop/rock star Cliff Richard along with the Shadows, the musician's backing group. He essentially singlehandedly secured for EMI's Columbia imprint the largest share of rock & roll among any British record label in the late 1950s and early 1960s, a genre in which the company had held no prior foothold, through his role in discovering Cliff Richard & the Shadows. Earlier on, he handled recordings for English Top 50 pop artists including Ruby Murray and Eddie Calvert. Throughout this time, he also created bestselling instrumental pop and mood music releases that found audiences across the Atlantic in both directions.
Born in London and schooled as a pianist, Norrie Paramor took up the role of pianist and arranger for the dance bands of Jack Harris and Maurice Winnick. Beginning in 1941, he joined an entertainment unit attached to the Royal Air Force, supplying music for shows in Blackpool. His career as music director started with the Ralph Reader Gang Show, and during the later war years he worked as arranger for Noël Coward, Jack Buchanan (best remembered for his starring role in MGM's 1953 The Band Wagon), and Mantovani.
Immediately after World War II, Paramor performed on piano with Harry Gold's Pieces of Eight band. Life on stage held little appeal, however, so after five years he stepped away to focus on studio work centered on arranging and conducting. His earliest studio assignments involved playing accompaniment on singles by Marie Benson. He first entered EMI Records as conductor of his own pop orchestra. Those sessions, together with later occasional projects, maintained Paramor's visibility through releases that sat comfortably beside the easy listening output of Paul Weston and similar bandleaders of the era.
In 1952 Paramor took the position of head of A&R for EMI's Columbia label and began producing records for the company. Late the next year he achieved his first major success with Eddie Calvert's single "Oh Mein Papa." Ruby Murray, another artist Paramor discovered, proved even more valuable to the label by scoring a massive hit in 1955 with "Softly, Softly" and additional chart entries throughout the mid-1950s. For most of the decade Paramor remained tied to pop, including two commercially successful studio orchestras he assembled—the Big Ben Banjo Band and the Big Ben Hawaiian Band—which recorded and broadcast on the BBC. Their blend of ethnic-flavored pop and trad (i.e., Dixieland) jazz grew so popular that Paramor, who had specifically wished to avoid road work after 1950, found it necessary to form touring versions of both ensembles to meet demand for live appearances and dance concerts. He also enjoyed success with the pop recordings of Michael Holliday and the Ken Jones Orchestra. He could not have anticipated, however, that his most significant discoveries still lay ahead and would involve a style of music as unfamiliar to him and EMI as it was to most of England.
By 1955, shifts were already underway in English popular music. A distinct teenage audience had surfaced, complete with its own tastes, initially gathering around skiffle through Lonnie Donegan's releases on Decca and Pye Records before expanding to encompass numerous other acts. By 1957 skiffle began yielding to rock & roll; the British industry first sought bands resembling Bill Haley & His Comets (after Haley's English tour supplied a familiar model), yet other influences such as Buddy Holly (who enjoyed greater popularity in England than in America) also registered. By 1958 domestic labels were actively searching for local talent capable of synthesizing these sounds.
Norrie Paramor claimed the prize for EMI by signing Cliff Richard and his backing band the Drifters (subsequently renamed the Shadows) in mid-1958, securing both the first and the biggest success. Paramor had originally planned to record Richard as a solo artist supported by the Ken Jones Orchestra, yet the Shadows' clean, professional sound, the precision of their interplay with Richard, and their serious approach to music persuaded him to retain the group as a performing and recording unit. Starting with "Move It," Richard launched a career that has now spanned more than forty years, culminating in a knighthood for himself and extended stardom for the Shadows.
The partnership between artist and producer proved ideal. Although Paramor—a tall, graying, bespectacled man who favored suits—was no rock & roller himself, that quality was unnecessary; the Shadows could furnish the required expertise, occasionally including songs and instrumentals. Instead, he functioned as a meticulous arranger and seasoned musician, offering sympathetic guidance that enabled Richard and the group to attain a level of polish on their recordings without sacrificing excitement, a combination that drew the admiration of millions of British listeners. Even future Beatles John Lennon and Paul McCartney counted themselves among the admirers in 1958 and 1959, despite later criticisms of the Shadows' programmatic approach, simply because a quartet of young British musicians was performing American-style rock & roll and gaining airplay, at least within England.
Paramor's judgment proved fallible at times. On the debut single he championed "Schoolboy Crush," a romantic rocker he favored as the A-side, until television music impresario Jack Good convinced him that the B-side—an energetic original by bandmember Ian Samwell titled "Move It"—would become the hit. To Paramor's credit, however, he had already chosen to record "Move It" and applied equal care to that side once persuaded of its potential.
Once the track succeeded, he moved quickly to capture Richard and the band performing numerous hard rock & roll numbers. When the time arrived to record Richard's first album, Cliff, Paramor took the unprecedented step—in England or America—of making it a live recording, captured before several hundred screaming fans in February 1959 inside the relatively controlled setting of EMI Studio Number One. The resulting album marked a landmark in rock & roll history as the first major live album by a white rock & roll performer and supplied the model for an idea that Paramor's younger colleague George Martin of Parlophone Records later adopted four years afterward when preparing the Beatles' debut album: simply have the group perform the repertoire from their stage shows (though Martin never executed his original plan to record them live at the Cavern Club).
During the early 1960s, as Richard's sound developed, certain sides were recorded with the Norrie Paramor Strings and other studio ensembles under the producer's direction, and Paramor himself contributed piano to some Cliff Richard and Shadows sessions. Paramor and EMI observed that Richard's rock & roll releases did not sell as steadily as anticipated, so Paramor ultimately guided the singer toward the more romantic, pop-oriented direction he had initially envisioned, exemplified by "Living Doll" and similar tracks akin to Ricky Nelson's American work. Although these choices disappointed hardcore rock & roll followers, they generated millions of additional sales. In any event, Richard's early albums retained substantial rock & roll content even as the singles leaned softer.
When Richard and the Shadows began recording separately, EMI-Columbia gained two major-selling artists. Although the Beatles later surpassed their combined sales, Paramor still contributed measurably to the company's standing and to English popular culture through his discovery of the group.
Paramor continued producing Richard and the Shadows for more than a decade while adding further major acts to his roster of discoveries, among them Helen Shapiro and Frank Ifield. He also produced sessions by Judy Garland, Gene Vincent, and Al Martino. His work with Richard and associates coincided with his growing success as a bandleader on his own mood-music recordings, several of which performed strongly, particularly in America—In London, In Love, London After Dark, and Amore, Amore! sold especially well on the opposite side of the Atlantic, where, ironically, Cliff Richard remained unknown.
EMI in the 1960s differed from the company of the 1950s, as did the record industry overall. Sales climbed dramatically, especially in England, amid the prosperity and optimism of a decade in which England, thanks to cultural figures such as the Beatles, James Bond, and the Avengers, once again occupied the world's center stage for the first time since the 1930s. The label was losing several of its strongest producers, including George Martin and Ron Richards, who felt undervalued at smaller imprints such as Parlophone and recognized greater financial and creative prospects outside the company.
Paramor was regarded as one of EMI's principal assets, both as a successful recording artist and as a producer who had delivered many millions of dollars in revenue, and he received favorable treatment; nevertheless, he departed in early 1968 to establish himself as an independent producer with his own firm. That same year he achieved a number one hit with the Scaffold's "Lily the Pink."
In 1972 he assumed the post of music director of the BBC Midland Radio Orchestra, which he held until 1978. Paramor died the following year; he had maintained his association with Cliff Richard throughout as producer, advisor, and publisher, and Richard dedicated his next album to Paramor's memory. ~ Bruce Eder
Born in London and schooled as a pianist, Norrie Paramor took up the role of pianist and arranger for the dance bands of Jack Harris and Maurice Winnick. Beginning in 1941, he joined an entertainment unit attached to the Royal Air Force, supplying music for shows in Blackpool. His career as music director started with the Ralph Reader Gang Show, and during the later war years he worked as arranger for Noël Coward, Jack Buchanan (best remembered for his starring role in MGM's 1953 The Band Wagon), and Mantovani.
Immediately after World War II, Paramor performed on piano with Harry Gold's Pieces of Eight band. Life on stage held little appeal, however, so after five years he stepped away to focus on studio work centered on arranging and conducting. His earliest studio assignments involved playing accompaniment on singles by Marie Benson. He first entered EMI Records as conductor of his own pop orchestra. Those sessions, together with later occasional projects, maintained Paramor's visibility through releases that sat comfortably beside the easy listening output of Paul Weston and similar bandleaders of the era.
In 1952 Paramor took the position of head of A&R for EMI's Columbia label and began producing records for the company. Late the next year he achieved his first major success with Eddie Calvert's single "Oh Mein Papa." Ruby Murray, another artist Paramor discovered, proved even more valuable to the label by scoring a massive hit in 1955 with "Softly, Softly" and additional chart entries throughout the mid-1950s. For most of the decade Paramor remained tied to pop, including two commercially successful studio orchestras he assembled—the Big Ben Banjo Band and the Big Ben Hawaiian Band—which recorded and broadcast on the BBC. Their blend of ethnic-flavored pop and trad (i.e., Dixieland) jazz grew so popular that Paramor, who had specifically wished to avoid road work after 1950, found it necessary to form touring versions of both ensembles to meet demand for live appearances and dance concerts. He also enjoyed success with the pop recordings of Michael Holliday and the Ken Jones Orchestra. He could not have anticipated, however, that his most significant discoveries still lay ahead and would involve a style of music as unfamiliar to him and EMI as it was to most of England.
By 1955, shifts were already underway in English popular music. A distinct teenage audience had surfaced, complete with its own tastes, initially gathering around skiffle through Lonnie Donegan's releases on Decca and Pye Records before expanding to encompass numerous other acts. By 1957 skiffle began yielding to rock & roll; the British industry first sought bands resembling Bill Haley & His Comets (after Haley's English tour supplied a familiar model), yet other influences such as Buddy Holly (who enjoyed greater popularity in England than in America) also registered. By 1958 domestic labels were actively searching for local talent capable of synthesizing these sounds.
Norrie Paramor claimed the prize for EMI by signing Cliff Richard and his backing band the Drifters (subsequently renamed the Shadows) in mid-1958, securing both the first and the biggest success. Paramor had originally planned to record Richard as a solo artist supported by the Ken Jones Orchestra, yet the Shadows' clean, professional sound, the precision of their interplay with Richard, and their serious approach to music persuaded him to retain the group as a performing and recording unit. Starting with "Move It," Richard launched a career that has now spanned more than forty years, culminating in a knighthood for himself and extended stardom for the Shadows.
The partnership between artist and producer proved ideal. Although Paramor—a tall, graying, bespectacled man who favored suits—was no rock & roller himself, that quality was unnecessary; the Shadows could furnish the required expertise, occasionally including songs and instrumentals. Instead, he functioned as a meticulous arranger and seasoned musician, offering sympathetic guidance that enabled Richard and the group to attain a level of polish on their recordings without sacrificing excitement, a combination that drew the admiration of millions of British listeners. Even future Beatles John Lennon and Paul McCartney counted themselves among the admirers in 1958 and 1959, despite later criticisms of the Shadows' programmatic approach, simply because a quartet of young British musicians was performing American-style rock & roll and gaining airplay, at least within England.
Paramor's judgment proved fallible at times. On the debut single he championed "Schoolboy Crush," a romantic rocker he favored as the A-side, until television music impresario Jack Good convinced him that the B-side—an energetic original by bandmember Ian Samwell titled "Move It"—would become the hit. To Paramor's credit, however, he had already chosen to record "Move It" and applied equal care to that side once persuaded of its potential.
Once the track succeeded, he moved quickly to capture Richard and the band performing numerous hard rock & roll numbers. When the time arrived to record Richard's first album, Cliff, Paramor took the unprecedented step—in England or America—of making it a live recording, captured before several hundred screaming fans in February 1959 inside the relatively controlled setting of EMI Studio Number One. The resulting album marked a landmark in rock & roll history as the first major live album by a white rock & roll performer and supplied the model for an idea that Paramor's younger colleague George Martin of Parlophone Records later adopted four years afterward when preparing the Beatles' debut album: simply have the group perform the repertoire from their stage shows (though Martin never executed his original plan to record them live at the Cavern Club).
During the early 1960s, as Richard's sound developed, certain sides were recorded with the Norrie Paramor Strings and other studio ensembles under the producer's direction, and Paramor himself contributed piano to some Cliff Richard and Shadows sessions. Paramor and EMI observed that Richard's rock & roll releases did not sell as steadily as anticipated, so Paramor ultimately guided the singer toward the more romantic, pop-oriented direction he had initially envisioned, exemplified by "Living Doll" and similar tracks akin to Ricky Nelson's American work. Although these choices disappointed hardcore rock & roll followers, they generated millions of additional sales. In any event, Richard's early albums retained substantial rock & roll content even as the singles leaned softer.
When Richard and the Shadows began recording separately, EMI-Columbia gained two major-selling artists. Although the Beatles later surpassed their combined sales, Paramor still contributed measurably to the company's standing and to English popular culture through his discovery of the group.
Paramor continued producing Richard and the Shadows for more than a decade while adding further major acts to his roster of discoveries, among them Helen Shapiro and Frank Ifield. He also produced sessions by Judy Garland, Gene Vincent, and Al Martino. His work with Richard and associates coincided with his growing success as a bandleader on his own mood-music recordings, several of which performed strongly, particularly in America—In London, In Love, London After Dark, and Amore, Amore! sold especially well on the opposite side of the Atlantic, where, ironically, Cliff Richard remained unknown.
EMI in the 1960s differed from the company of the 1950s, as did the record industry overall. Sales climbed dramatically, especially in England, amid the prosperity and optimism of a decade in which England, thanks to cultural figures such as the Beatles, James Bond, and the Avengers, once again occupied the world's center stage for the first time since the 1930s. The label was losing several of its strongest producers, including George Martin and Ron Richards, who felt undervalued at smaller imprints such as Parlophone and recognized greater financial and creative prospects outside the company.
Paramor was regarded as one of EMI's principal assets, both as a successful recording artist and as a producer who had delivered many millions of dollars in revenue, and he received favorable treatment; nevertheless, he departed in early 1968 to establish himself as an independent producer with his own firm. That same year he achieved a number one hit with the Scaffold's "Lily the Pink."
In 1972 he assumed the post of music director of the BBC Midland Radio Orchestra, which he held until 1978. Paramor died the following year; he had maintained his association with Cliff Richard throughout as producer, advisor, and publisher, and Richard dedicated his next album to Paramor's memory. ~ Bruce Eder
Albums
