Norman “Hurricane” Smith
Posted: Sunday, March 16th, 2008 7:50 am
March 7, 2008 — John Lennon nicknamed him “Normal”, and under the name “Hurricane” Smith he enjoyed a one-off No1 hit, but it was as plain Norman Smith that he made his mark on the history of popular music.
As George Martin’s engineer and right-hand man, Smith twiddled the knobs, set up the microphones, checked the levels and acted as general factotum on all the Beatles’ recordings between 1962 and 1965, totalling some 150 songs from Love Me Do and She Loves You to Nowhere Man and Norwegian Wood.
Promoted from engineer to A&R man and producer, he then signed Pink Floyd to EMI and produced their first three albums. Smith’s own brief emergence from backroom wizard to unlikely singing star came when his composition Oh Babe What Would You Say? topped the charts in 1972. …
Smith worked with Martin on every Beatles single and album up until and including Rubber Soul (1965). … Read full obituary
