Norrie Paramor

Norrie Paramor was one of EMI's top producers in pop music and rock 'n roll up thru the end of the 1960's. For a time in England, he was the only record producer whose name teenagers might reasonably have been expected to recognize, because of his work in that capacity for more than a decade with pop-rock star Cliff Richard and his backing band, The Shadows. Indeed, he was almost single-handedly responsible for giving EMI's Columbia label the biggest stake in rock 'n roll of any record company in England during the late 1950's and early 1960's, where it had no previous presence in the field, as the discoverer of Cliff Richard & The Shadows. Before that, he was responsible for recording such top 1950's English pop stars as Ruby Murray and Eddie Calvert. And all along, he made best-selling records of instrumental pop and mood music that sold on both sides of the Atlantic. Born in London and trained as a pianist, Norrie Paramor became a piano player and arranger for Jack Harris's and Maurice Winnick's dance bands. He served in an entertainment unit attached to the Royal Air Force starting in 1941, providing music for performances in Blackpool. He began his career as a music director with the Ralph Reader Gang Show, and later in the war years became an arranger for Noel Coward, Jack Buchanan (best remembered for his starring role in MGM's 1953 The Band Wagon, and Mantovani. Paramor spent the period immediately after World War II playing piano with the Pieces of Eight band led by Harry Gold. Life as a performer didn't appeal to him, however, and after five years he gave it up to concentrate on studio work, with an emphasis on arranging and conducting. His first work as a studio musician was playing accompaniment on singles by Marie Benson. He initially joined EMI Records...