Larry Norman: 1947-2008

Larry Norman, who was dubbed the father of Christian rock, passed away on Sunday in his home in Salem, Ore.

“Larry was my door into the music business and he was the most Christlike person I ever met," Pixies' singer Frank Black said in a press release after Norman’s passing. Black is a longtime fan of Norman's and the two have appeared on stage together and seemed to maintain a mutual respect.

It seems that many have some sort of connection to Larry Norman—Pete Townshend, Bob Dylan, U2, John Mellencamp. Never one to be confined to category, Norman apparently had been working on an album with his brother Charles (who records under the pseudonym Charles Normal), Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock and Black. An adaptation of Lee Hazelwood’s first solo effort, Trouble is a Lonesome Town, each artist respectively sang three songs for the album, with Kristen Blix of Guards of Metropolis adding vocals for the final track. The band also backed most of the album, and their label Slackertone Records will be handling the release.

Norman first broke into the music scene with People! when he moved to San Jose, Calif. in 1966. The band toured for the next two years in support of the Doors, The Who, Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix, to name a few. People!'s cover of The Zombies’ “I Love You” eventually topped out at number seven on Billboard in 1968.

Norman left the band the day the album was released due to creative differences with the label. He released his first solo effort, Upon This Rock, in 1969, and it is considered to be the first Christian-rock record. He followed up with Only Visiting This Planet in 1972. This later became a staple to the genre, despite the fact that his songs were often thematically controversial in that they tackled subjects such as racism and poverty.

For an artist that floated just under the radar for much of his career, Norman played and even sold out a number of prestigious venues, including the White House, the Hollywood Bowl, Olympic Stadium in Moscow, the Sydney Opera House, the Palladium and London’s Royal Albert Hall.

Sometimes caustic, but seemingly sincere, Norman reportedly released close to 100 solo albums throughout the course of his 40-year long career. He has been covered over 300 times by a variety of artists, from Sammy Davis, Jr. to Rebecca St. James. He was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2001.

Arena Rock Recording Company will release Larry Norman: the Anthology on May 27.

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