| Larry Norman is celebrating more than 50 years
as a songwriter and performer. The media have referred to him as
“the father of Christian Rock” because it was Norman
who first combined rock and roll with Christian lyrics.
However, Norman, famous for such songs as
“Why Should The Devil Have All The Good Music”,
“I Wish We’d All Been Ready” and “The Great
American Novel,” has been in declining health for many
years.
In 1992 he suffered a severe heart attack and has
been plagued by poor health ever since. In 2001 Norman was told he
only had a few days to live. He needed open-heart surgery but no
doctor would okay the procedure because they said Norman would
never survive the operation. Still alive after two weeks one doctor
volunteered to do the quadruple bypass operation.
Since the operation, he has been told that his
health insurance would no longer pay for his nursing expenses. He
has lost a lot of weight and suffered loss of muscle strength and
stamina. These problems could all be helped by specialist medical
care, but without any insurance payments this is not possible. And
Norman has been unable to earn much income from the one or two
concerts he is able to perform each year.
With that in mind, an official Larry Norman UK
website and a UK division of the singer’s Solid Rock Records
was established in September 2004 to promote Norman’s medical
expenses.
The new website (www.larrynorman.uk.com) offers
some of the Solid Rock music catalogue in the UK with income from
all products sold going towards Norman’s medical
expenses.
Solid Rock UK’s Alan Gibson said
“www.larrynorman.uk.com website will be the focal point to
communicate our vision – being a source of information on
Larry, his ongoing health condition and requirements, prayer
requests, means to financial support Larry’s medical expenses
and to encourage the purchase of Larry’s CDs that are now
available in most UK Christian stores.”
Gibson added, “To make the Larry Norman UK
venture succeed I need the Christian community to make every effort
to advertise, publicize and do their best to ensure all those UK
fans of Larry from the 70's, 80's and 90's have the opportunity to
visit the new UK website and learn of Larry’s medical needs
– and hopefully make a donation and/or purchase CDs to aid
the cause.”
Norman recently wrote, “The few of you who
buy CDs from Solid Rock have really been a blessing. And the few
who have sent donations have sent them in at exactly the right time
for emergency situations which have come up. So thank you.
Literally, you have been ‘Life Savers’ to
me.”
Larry says “I feel I am alive because you
have prayed for me because the doctors kept saying I wasn't going
to make it.”
“Time Magazine” once called Norman
“the most significant artist in his field.” Norman has
had over 300 “cover recordings” of his songs by such
British notables as Cliff Richard and Petula Clark. His songs have
also been recorded by contemporary artists like DC Talk, Rebecca
St. James, and Audio Adrenaline. He has performed for The White
House, twice - and in Moscow at the 80,000 seat Olympic Stadium. He
has headlined at venues like The Hollywood Bowl, The Sydney Opera
House, The Palladium and London's prestigious Royal Albert Hall,
which he has sold out six times; once filling it twice on the same
day. Bob Dylan, John Mellencamp, Frank Black of The Pixies, U2, Van
Morrison and Vince Clark have called themselves fans. In 2001
Norman was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.
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