Richard Norris was born 23 June 1965 and is a
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
-based
record producer
A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...
, songwriter,
sound engineer
An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproductio ...
, musician, DJ and author. He is best known as a member of electronic dance band
The Grid
The Grid is an English electronic dance group, consisting of David Ball (formerly of Soft Cell) and Richard Norris, with guest contributions from other musicians. They are best known for the hits "Swamp Thing", "Texas Cowboys", "Crystal Cle ...
.
Richard has also worked as a producer and engineer since the 80s with artists such as:
Bryan Ferry
Bryan Ferry CBE (born 26 September 1945) is an English singer and songwriter. His voice has been described as an "elegant, seductive croon". He also established a distinctive image and sartorial style: according to ''The Independent'', Ferry an ...
,
Genesis Breyer P-Orridge
Genesis may refer to:
Bible
* Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind
* Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...
,
Marc Almond
Peter Mark Sinclair "Marc" Almond, (born 9 July 1957) is an English singer. Almond first began performing and recording in the synthpop/ new wave duo Soft Cell where he became known for his distinctive soulful voice and androgynous image. ...
,
Joe Strummer
John Graham Mellor (21 August 1952 – 22 December 2002), known professionally as Joe Strummer, was a British singer, musician and songwriter. He was the co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist and co-lead vocalist of punk rock band the Clash, f ...
and the
Pet Shop Boys
The Pet Shop Boys are an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1981. Consisting of primary vocalist Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe, they have sold more than 50 million records worldwide, and were listed as the most successful duo ...
.
Norris began making music as a teenage member of St. Albans punk band Innocent Vicars. Vicars recorded two singles in 1980: "Antimatter" and "Funky Town" for the independent No Brain Records. Norris started working in the music industry as the label manager for the British psychedelic record label Bam Caruso before becoming a writer for
NME in 1987.
Bands
The Grid
Norris and David Ball collaborated when they formed the electronic dance group
The Grid
The Grid is an English electronic dance group, consisting of David Ball (formerly of Soft Cell) and Richard Norris, with guest contributions from other musicians. They are best known for the hits "Swamp Thing", "Texas Cowboys", "Crystal Cle ...
in 1988. The Grid signed to
Warner Bros
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...
Records/
East West Records
East West Records (stylized as east''west'') is a record label formed in 1955, distributed and owned by Warner Music Group, headquartered in London, England.
History
Upon its creation in 1955 by Atlantic Records, the label had one hit with ...
the same year. The Grid had six Top 40 UK Singles Chart hits between 1990 and 1995 including: "Floatation", "Crystal Clear", "Texas Cowboys", "Rollercoaster" and the million-selling "
Swamp Thing
The Swamp Thing is a superhero in American comic books published by DC Comics. A humanoid/plant elemental creature, created by writer Len Wein and artist Bernie Wrightson, the Swamp Thing has had several humanoid or monster incarnations in v ...
." "Swamp Thing" reached no.3 in the UK charts and was Top Ten in nine other countries. It was certified a Silver Disc.
The Grid has been in existence from their formation in 1988 until the present day with a 5-year hiatus between 1998-2003. During the break, Norris formed the band The Droyds and under that name mixed tracks for
Armand Van Helden and
Siobhan Fahey
Siobhan Maire Fahey (; born 10 September 1958) is an Irish singer whose vocal range is a light contralto. She was a founding member of the group Bananarama, who have had ten top-10 hits including the US number one hit single "Venus". She later ...
.
The Grid have released five albums (as of 2018).
Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve
Along with British DJ
Erol Alkan
Erol Alkan (born 30 May 1974) is an English DJ and producer of Turkish Cypriot descent. He grew up in Archway in North London.
Career
DJ and club promoter
In 1993, Erol Alkan started DJing in various indie nightclubs in London. His fir ...
Norris formed the remix/DJ duo Beyond the Wizard's Sleeve. Under this name Norris and Alkan initially released four remix/re-edit EPs: "Birth", "Spring", "George" and "West", followed by several singles. In 2016 they released their debut album ''The Soft Bounce'' which was rated album of the week by The Guardian's music critic
Alex Petridis
Beyond the Wizard's Sleeve have also have remixed
The Chemical Brothers
The Chemical Brothers are an English electronic music duo formed by Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons in Manchester in 1989. They were pioneers (along with the Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, the Crystal Method, and other acts) in bringing the big beat gen ...
,
Tracey Thorn
Tracey Anne Thorn (born 26 September 1962) is a British singer. She is best known as being one half of the duo Everything but the Girl from 1982 to 1999. She was a member of the band Marine Girls between 1980 and 1983 and since 2007 has bee ...
,
Badly Drawn Boy
Damon Michael Gough (born 2 October 1969), known by the stage name Badly Drawn Boy, is an English indie singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.
Gough chose his stage name from a character in the show ''Sam and his Magic Ball'', which he saw ...
,
Midlake
Midlake is an American folk rock band from Denton, Texas, formed in 1999. The band consists of Eric Pulido, McKenzie Smith, Scott Lee, Eric Nichelson, Jesse Chandler, and Joey McClellan.
In 2012, vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter Tim ...
and
Goldfrapp
Goldfrapp are an English electronic music duo from London, formed in 1999. The duo consists of Alison Goldfrapp (vocals, synthesiser) and Will Gregory (synthesiser).
Despite favourable reviews and a short-listing for the Mercury Prize, their ...
. Their own compilation of other band remixes: ''Reanimations Volume One'', was released in 2009. Norris has also compiled the techno compilation album ''Flux Trax''.
Norris formed the electronic band Circle Sky with DJ Martin Dubka. Circle Sky remixed a number of artists including: Yello, Jagwar Ma, and Imarhan.
The Time & Space Machine
Norris formed a new project in 2009 called The Time and Space Machine. The Time and Space Machine signed to Tirk Records in 2009 and released a 7" single "Children of the Sun," an EP ''You Are The One'', andan album ''Set Phazer to Stun''. A second Time and Space Machine album ''Taste the Lazer'' was released in 2012.
A The Time and Space Machine remix collection ''The Way Out Sound From In'' was released in 2015. This featured remixes of:
Warpaint,
Jagwar Ma
Jagwar Ma is an Australian psychedelic dance band formed in Sydney in 2011. It consists of Gabriel Winterfield (lead vocalist, guitarist), Jono Ma (guitar, beats, synths, production), and bass guitarist Jack Freeman, who joined 2012. The band ...
and
Temples
A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...
.
The band also collaborated with designer Luke Insect and the street wear label
Stussy to create a series of Time and Space Machine Stussy T-shirts.
Collaborations
Joe Strummer
Norris was also a friend of
Joe Strummer
John Graham Mellor (21 August 1952 – 22 December 2002), known professionally as Joe Strummer, was a British singer, musician and songwriter. He was the co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist and co-lead vocalist of punk rock band the Clash, f ...
and the two worked together on the soundtrack for ''
Grosse Pointe Blank
''Grosse Pointe Blank'' is a 1997 American black comedy action film directed by George Armitage from a screenplay by Tom Jankiewicz, D. V. DeVincentis, Steve Pink and John Cusack. It stars Cusack, Minnie Driver, Alan Arkin and Dan Aykroyd and ...
''. Norris later appeared on
The Mescaleros
The Mescaleros were the British backing band for British singer, musician and songwriter Joe Strummer, formed in 1999, which issued three albums prior to Strummer's death in 2002.
Many of the band members were multi-instrumentalists. The origin ...
debut album ''
Rock Art and the X-Ray Style
''Rock Art and the X-Ray Style'' is the debut album by Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros, released on 18 October 1999. This album featured the band in its first incarnation: Joe Strummer and Antony Genn on guitar and vocals, Martin Slattery pla ...
''
co-writing and producing tracks: "Sandpaper Blues" and "Yalla Yalla."
Psychic TV
Norris and
Genesis P-Orridge of
Psychic TV collaborated to release two fake
compilations of
acid house songs in 1988—contributing to each under variety of aliases such as: ''DJ Doktor Megatrip'' and ''Mista Luv''. The two albums ''
Jack the Tab'' and ''
Tekno Acid Beat'' were released with the intention to fool people into believing that the genre had already taken off in Britain—thereby encouraging its popularization and acceptance.
''
Jack the Tab'' also features
Soft Cell
Soft Cell are an English synthpop duo who came to prominence in the early 1980s. The duo consists of vocalist Marc Almond and instrumentalist David Ball. The band are primarily known for their 1981 hit version of "Tainted Love" and their pla ...
’s
David Ball and was notable for sampling dialogue from the film ''
The Wild Angels
''The Wild Angels'' is a 1966 American outlaw biker film produced and directed by Roger Corman. Made on location in Southern California, ''The Wild Angels'' was the first film to associate actor Peter Fonda with Harley-Davidson motorcycles an ...
'' - ''‘We Want to be free! We want to do what we want to do!’'' - two years before it was used by
Primal Scream in their Top 20 hit "
Loaded."
Moog
Moog Music—contemporary makers of the famous
Moog synthesisers—constructed a bespoke sound lab for the creation of live synthesised music as an open access, experimental music resource to celebrate the life and work of electronics inventor
Dr. Robert Moog in 2015.
The Grid
The Grid is an English electronic dance group, consisting of David Ball (formerly of Soft Cell) and Richard Norris, with guest contributions from other musicians. They are best known for the hits "Swamp Thing", "Texas Cowboys", "Crystal Cle ...
were the first band to be invited to play and record in the new studio at the Sound Lab at The Institute of Sound Recording (
Surrey University) three years later. The resulting work was a 6-track album called ''One Way Traffic''. The other albums—making up a series of three were: Hieroglyphic Being's ''The Replicant Dream Sequence'' and the late Mika Vainio's ''Lydspor One & Two''. The Guardian's music critic described the event as: 'The synth revival; why the Moog is back in vogue' commenting: 'Both Grid members are bona fide synth pioneers.'
Robert Fripp
The Grid collaborated with the
King Crimson
King Crimson are a progressive rock band formed in 1968 in London, England. The band draws inspiration from a wide variety of music, incorporating elements of classical, jazz, folk, heavy metal, gamelan, industrial, electronic, experime ...
guitarist
Robert Fripp
Robert Fripp (born 16 May 1946) is a British musician, songwriter, record producer, and author, best known as the guitarist, founder and longest-lasting member of the progressive rock band King Crimson. He has worked extensively as a session ...
on the Grid album ''456''. The Grid also remixed
David Sylvian
David Sylvian (born David Alan Batt, 23 February 1958) is an English musician, singer and songwriter who came to prominence in the late 1970s as frontman and principal songwriter of the band Japan. The band's androgynous look and increasingly ...
and Robert Fripp's track "Darshan (1993)" and released the previously unheard Grid/Fripp collaboration "A Cabala Sky" in 2014
Finnur Bjarnasson
Norris collaborated with classically trained Icelandic opera singer Finnur Bjarnasson on a music project called ''Restoration'' under the band name The Long Now. It was released on Curved Space Records in 2018 .
Remixes
Norris has been remixing music since the eighties and has worked with artists including:
Soft Cell
Soft Cell are an English synthpop duo who came to prominence in the early 1980s. The duo consists of vocalist Marc Almond and instrumentalist David Ball. The band are primarily known for their 1981 hit version of "Tainted Love" and their pla ...
,
Psychic TV,
Black Grape
Black Grape are an English rock band, featuring former members of Happy Mondays and Ruthless Rap Assassins. Their musical style fuses funk and electronic rock with electronic programming and samples.
History Formation, first two albums and ...
,
Space
Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually cons ...
,
Yello
Yello is a Swiss electronic music band, which formed in Zürich in 1979. For most of the band's history, Yello has been a duo consisting of Dieter Meier and Boris Blank; founding member Carlos Perón left in 1983.
Their sound is often charac ...
,
Shakespears Sister
Shakespears Sister is an alternative pop and rock musical duo based in the United Kingdom that was formed in 1988 by singer-songwriter Siobhan Fahey, a former member of Bananarama. Shakespears Sister was initially a solo act, but became a duo ...
,
Armand Van Helden,
Lambchop,
Joe Strummer
John Graham Mellor (21 August 1952 – 22 December 2002), known professionally as Joe Strummer, was a British singer, musician and songwriter. He was the co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist and co-lead vocalist of punk rock band the Clash, f ...
,
Cornershop
Cornershop are a British indie rock band best known for their single "Brimful of Asha", originally released in 1997 and, in a remixed version, topping the UK chart in 1998. The band was formed in 1991 by Wolverhampton-born Tjinder Singh (singe ...
,
Saint Etienne,
Marc Almond
Peter Mark Sinclair "Marc" Almond, (born 9 July 1957) is an English singer. Almond first began performing and recording in the synthpop/ new wave duo Soft Cell where he became known for his distinctive soulful voice and androgynous image. ...
and
Momus.
Norris remixed former
The Verve
The Verve were an English rock band formed in Wigan in 1990 by lead vocalist Richard Ashcroft, guitarist Nick McCabe, bass guitarist Simon Jones and drummer Peter Salisbury. Guitarist and keyboard player Simon Tong later became a member in ...
singer
Richard Ashcroft
Richard Paul Ashcroft (born 11 September 1971) is an English singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer and occasional rhythm guitarist of the alternative rock band The Verve from their formation in 1990 until their original split in 1999. So ...
's "Out of my Body" Flamingods "Mixed Blessings" and
Mary Epworth's "Me Swimming" in 2017.
Festivals
The Lewes Psychedelic Festival in
Lewes, south England was founded by Norris and Chris Tomsett in 2009. The ongoing festival is still curated by Tomsett (as of 2018)--hosting in the past bands such as: The Notorious Hi-Fi Killers, Voice of the Seven Thunders, The Sound Carriers and Norris's own The Time & Space Machine.
Norris regularly DJs at UK festivals including
Glastonbury
Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbur ...
and the
Green Man Festival
The Green Man Festival is an independent music, science and arts festival held annually in mid-August in the Brecon Beacons, Wales. Green Man has evolved into a 25,000 capacity week long event, showcasing predominantly live music (in particular ...
Soundtracks
Norris's bands and songs have appeared in several feature films, television shows and documentaries:
* ''
Grosse Point Blank
''Grosse Pointe Blank'' is a 1997 American black comedy action film directed by George Armitage from a screenplay by Tom Jankiewicz, D. V. DeVincentis, Steve Pink and John Cusack. It stars Cusack, Minnie Driver, Alan Arkin and Dan Aykroyd and foll ...
'' (song "War Cry")
* ''
Pecker'' (song "Swamp Thing")
* ''Let's Rock Again!'' (song "Yalla Yalla")
* ''
My Mad Fat Diary
''My Mad Fat Diary'' is a British teen comedy-drama television series that debuted on E4 on 14 January 2013. It is based on the novel ''My Fat, Mad Teenage Diary'' by Rae Earl.
The second series started on 19 February 2014 and ended on 31 Ma ...
'' ("England’s Irie")
* ''Everybody Street''
* ''Viva Joe Strummer'' (personal appearance)
Author
Norris was the official biographer of
Paul Oakenfold
Paul Mark Oakenfold (born 30 August 1963), formerly known mononymously as Oakenfold, is an English record producer, remixer and trance DJ. He has provided over 100 remixes for over 100 artists including U2, Moby, Madonna, Britney Spears, Mas ...
and the writer of ''Paul Oakenfold: The Authorized Biography'' in 2007.
References
External links
* Richard Norris
* Richard Norris interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Norris, Richard
1965 births
Living people
English house musicians
English techno musicians
English electronic musicians
English record producers
English DJs
English biographers
British audio engineers
Musicians from London
Place of birth missing (living people)
Electronic dance music DJs