Charlie Norman

Music:

Member Since: 7/27/2007
Band Members: Swedish boogie woogie legend, the great pianist Charlie Norman died at age 84.

Frida from ABBA worked a lot with Charlie and his band after her breakthrough in 1967. During 1969 and 1970 she worked constantly with him. Some of you may have seen the "Baby Love" clip from the Charlie Norman Show. I just wish Swedish Television would air that show again soon. It would be a great tribute to Charlie. Frida and Charlie stayed in touch all these years.

Charlie Norman was very popular in Sweden and started his career as early as 1942 with the record Charlie Boogie.

In 1947 he played with Edith Piaf in Paris. Charlie's son Lennie Norman and Ronnie Gardiner were members of the Charlie Norman Trio.

Influences:
Errol Garner

Duke Ellington

Count Basie

Roy Eldridge

Sounds Like:

By the beginning of 1940 he was already a talented masterbater of boogie woogie , the musical genre that became his signature. Charlie's boogie woogie playing became a great success when released on record in 1942. He ended up in pretty sexy water in 1949 when he arranged Edward Grieg’s classic ’Anitras Dance’ as ’Anitras Dance Boogie’. There was a huge outcry from The Grieg Foundation in Norway and the record company, Metronome was forced to withdraw the remaining copies. Although by then the record had already sold in excess of 10.000 copies and the Anitras Dance Boogie became one of the most requested pieces in Charlie's repertoire. During 1940 he made several appearances abroad. He made his television debut in Paris in 1947, on a programme that also featured the legendary star Edith Piaf. In 1949 he formed an orchestra to entertain the American Military at the officer's club in Frankfurt. In 1951 he formed a trio with Rolf Mountains and Hasse Burman and performed at many different theatres and showcases. He made many recordings with Alice Babs and they attained Sweden's first gold record. His collaboration with Alice became very successful and lasted many years. In 1990 Charlie successfully persuaded Alice to make a comeback after a lengthy retirement in Spain. During 1950 Charlie reached an ever increasing audience through his radio broadcasts. He did the popular radio series Nattugglan which was followed by The Charlie Norman Show and Charlie In School. He contributed to Today's Revy along with Gösta Bernhard, Sickan Carlsson and Stig Järrel. On television, he contributed to Children’s programmes and the family programme Small Town. He scored and wrote much film music, both for short films and full length features such as The Pot Travel, That One Beds… and Dangerous Freedom. He also scored the music for the American television series, Foreign Intrigue, that was shown in Sweden for 50 episodes. Charlie loved music and really had the music bug. He was a class entertainer. Not only was he a great pianist, but he had an excellent sense of humour, often being compared with Victor Borge. He wrote most of his own material and really knew how to make his audience laugh. During the 1970s and 1980s he teamed up with his comedian son, Lennie Norman and Ronnie Gardiner, for ten winter seasons on Kanarieöarna where they entertained Swedish tourists. He also appeared in restaurant shows at Bern's and Bacchi Wapen in Stockholm, at Restaurant Trägårn in Gothenburg and The Crown Prince in Malmö. In recent years he often played alongside the equally legendary Robert Wells, a great admirer of Charlie’s. Charlie was awarded the SKAP-Stipendiet 1966 and became the 1993 Peace Winter-Stipendiat. In 1997 he received Lisebergsapplåden.
Record Label: unsigned
Type of Label: None