Editing Norrie Paramor

{{Short description|English record producer (1914–1979)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2015}}
{{Infobox musical artist <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Musicians -->
| name                = Norrie Paramor
| image               = Norrie Paramor (1960).jpg
| caption             = Paramor in 1960
| image_size          =
| background          = solo_singer
| birth_name          = Norman William Paramor 
| alias               = Norman Sidney, B-side Norrie
| birth_date          = {{birth date|df=y|1913|5|15}}
| birth_place         = London, England, United Kingdom
| death_date          = {{death date and age|df=y|1979|9|9|1913|5|15}}
| death_place         =  London, England, United Kingdom
| origin              = 
| instrument          = Piano
| genre               = Light orchestral<br />Pop music<br />Rock music<br />Swing music<br />Easy listening
| occupation          = [[Record producer]]<br />[[Composer]]<br />[[Arranger]]<br />[[Conductor (music)|Conductor]]<br />[[Pianist]]<br />[[Band leader]]
| years_active        = c. 1940s - 1979
| label               = EMI Music publishing (imprint Capitol Records)
| past_member_of     = Norrie Paramor and his Orchestra, [[The Big Ben Banjo Band]]
| website             =
}}

'''Norman William "Norrie" Paramor''' (15 May 1913 – 9 September 1979) was a British record producer, composer, arranger, pianist, bandleader, and orchestral conductor. He is best known for his work with [[Cliff Richard]] and [[the Shadows]], both together and separately, steering their early careers and producing and arranging most of their material from the late 1950s to the early 1970s. Paramor was an orchestra conductor and composer of music for studio albums, theatrical productions, and film scores.

==Early career==
Paramor was born in London on 15 May 1913.<ref name="Larkin"/> He left school at the age of fifteen and began working in an office. But he found his first musical work as pianist accompanist to [[Gracie Fields]], and from there became involved with London dance bands, among them [[Maurice Winnick]]'s orchestra.<ref name=ccpm>Reuben Musiker and Naomi Musiker. ''Conductors and Composers of Popular Music'' (1998), pp. 209-12</ref> During the war he served with the [[Royal Air Force]] and worked with [[Sidney Torch]] and [[Max Wall]], and became musical director for the [[Ralph Reader]] Gang shows, touring the world entertaining troops. 

He worked with [[Harry Gold (musician)|Harry Gold]] and his Pieces of Eight and toured with [[Bing Crosby]]. He also produced arrangements for [[Noël Coward]], [[Mantovani]] and [[Jack Buchanan]] during this period.

==Recordings==
Paramor made his first recordings 1950  under his own name and with the [[The Big Ben Banjo Band]].<ref> Peter Gammond. ''The Oxford Companion to Popular Music'' (Oxford University Press, 1991)</ref>

==Producer ==
The term "music producer"/record producer" was not in circulation at the time Paramor started producing records. The usual term was Artiste and Repertoire Manager, or [[A&R]] man). He effectively began this role in 1952 when he became Recording Director for [[EMI]]'s [[Columbia Graphophone Company|Columbia Records]].<ref name="Larkin">{{cite book|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]|editor=Colin Larkin|editor-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|publisher=[[Virgin Books]]|date=1997|edition=Concise|isbn=1-85227-745-9|page=930}}</ref> As well as being producer for Cliff Richard and the Shadows, he produced records for [[Ruby Murray]], [[Eddie Calvert]], [[Michael Holliday]], [[Helen Shapiro]], [[Frank Ifield]], [[Frankie Vaughan]], [[the Mudlarks]], [[the Avons]], and [[Ricky Valance]], among others.{{citation needed|date=August 2014}} Per ''[[The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles]]'', Paramor and [[George Martin]]{{snd}} his opposite number at EMI sister label [[Parlophone]]{{snd}} jointly held the record for having produced the most [[United Kingdom|UK]] Number 1 hit singles until Martin produced "[[Candle in the Wind 97]]" for Sir [[Elton John]], 18 years after Paramor died.<ref name=mw>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Music Week]]|title=From Rivals Chart To Popstars Rivals|page=5|edition=Celebrating 50 Years of the Singles Chart|date=16 November 2002|last=Williams|first=Paul}}</ref> This ignores [[The Beatles]]' second single "[[Please Please Me (song)|Please Please Me]]", produced by Martin, which was recognized as a number one hit by every other publicly available chart of the time, but not by ''[[Record Retailer]]'' and therefore not by ''British Hit Singles'', which uses that chart as its source from 1960.<ref name=mw/>

In the late 1960s he left EMI to form his own production company.<ref name=varobit>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=September 12, 1979|page=114|title=Obituaries}}</ref>  Kenneth Womack has written about the sometimes intense rivalry between Paramor and George Martin.<ref>Kenneth Womack. ''Maximum Volume: The Life of Beatles Producer George Martin, The Early Years, 1926-1966'' (2017)</ref>

==Composer and conductor==
In 1955, he formed Norman Paramor & His Orchestra and in 1956 they recorded one of the biggest-selling albums from the Capitol of the World import series, released by another subsidiary of EMI, [[Capitol Records]]: ''In London in Love'', featuring the [[soprano]] Patricia Clarke, who was used in many subsequent selling albums. This became his trademark orchestral signature sound, and was featured on 
a series of albums, including ''Autumn'', ''Amor Amor'', ''Emotions'' (1958) ''In London, In Love'', ''In Love Again'', ''Moods'', ''My Fair Lady'', ''Warm and Willing'' and ''The Zodiac Suite'' (1959) among others. Albums often featured his original compositions and those of Bobby Black.<ref name=ccpm/>

Paramor also composed music for films, including ''[[Serious Charge]]'' (1959), ''[[Expresso Bongo]]'' (1959), ''[[The Young Ones (1961 film)|The Young Ones]]'' (1961), ''[[No My Darling Daughter]]'' (1961), ''[[The Frightened City]]'' (1961), ''[[A Pair of Briefs]]'' (1962), ''[[Two and Two Make Six]]'' (1962), ''[[The Wild and the Willing]]'' (1962), ''[[The Fast Lady]]'' (1963), ''[[Doctor in Distress (film)|Doctor in Distress]]'' (1963), ''[[Father Came Too!]]'' (1963), and ''[[My Lover, My Son]]'' (1970).<ref name="imdb">{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0660921/#Composer|title=Norrie Paramor : Composer|website=IMDb.com|access-date=2012-12-21}}</ref> He co-wrote the 1962 hit song "Let's Talk About Love" for [[Helen Shapiro]].

In 1962, Paramor was the subject of "A Tribute to Norrie Paramor" by [[David Frost]] on the satirical British television programme ''[[That Was the Week That Was]]'' for, the sketch claimed, taking undeserved songwriting credits and royalties, "writing ordinary tunes with ordinary words" and "[making] everything ordinary."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DG3Uz4srwqo  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/DG3Uz4srwqo| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|title=That Was the Week That Was, 15 Dec. 1962, from 13:30 |publisher=[[YouTube]]|access-date=2016-09-11}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

In 1968, he was the musical director for the [[Eurovision Song Contest]], staged at the [[Royal Albert Hall]], the first to be broadcast in colour. He also conducted the UK entry that year, "[[Congratulations (Cliff Richard song)|Congratulations]]", performed by [[Cliff Richard]].

In 1970, he became the resident conductor for [[BBC West Midlands|BBC Midland]] [[BBC Orchestras and Singers|Radio Orchestra]], a post he held until his death.<ref name=varobit/> In 1977, Paramor and his orchestra recorded with the Shadows for a final time, on the track "Return to the Alamo".

== Death ==
Paramor died in London, England on 9 September 1979, at the age of 66,<ref name="Larkin"/> a fortnight after [[Cliff Richard]] had returned to the top of the [[UK Singles Chart]] with "[[We Don't Talk Anymore (Cliff Richard song)|We Don't Talk Anymore]]",<ref name="500 Number One Hits">{{cite book
| first= Jo
| last= Rice
| year= 1982
| title= The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits
| edition= 1st
| publisher= Guinness Superlatives Ltd 
| location= Enfield, Middlesex
| isbn= 0-85112-250-7
| page=198}}</ref> his first number one single in more than ten years. Paramor and Richard had worked together professionally from 1958 to 1972.

==See also==
*''[[Just We Two]]'', recording by Norrie Paramor and his orchestra

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb name|id=0660921}}
* {{Discogs artist}}
* [https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780195313734.001.0001/acref-9780195313734-e-21211 Norrie Paramor] at oxfordreference.com

{{s-start}}
{{succession box |
  before={{flagicon|Austria}} [[Johannes Fehring]] |
  title=[[Eurovision Song Contest|Eurovision Song Contest conductor]] |
  years=[[Eurovision Song Contest 1968|1968]] |
  after={{nowrap|{{flagicon|Spain}} [[Augusto Algueró]]}}
}}
{{s-end}}

{{Cliff Richard}}
{{The Shadows}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paramor, Norrie}}
[[Category:1913 births]]
[[Category:1979 deaths]]
[[Category:People from London]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in England]]
[[Category:English male conductors (music)]]
[[Category:English music arrangers]]
[[Category:English record producers]]
[[Category:English male songwriters]]
[[Category:20th-century English conductors (music)]]
[[Category:20th-century English male musicians]]