Death of Beatles’ backroom boy

Mar 7 2008 by Alan Weston, Liverpool Daily Post

A KEY member of the production team who worked on every Beatles recording session from 1962 to 1965 has died at the age of 85.

Norman Smith began working for EMI in 1959, and in the absence of producer George Martin was in charge of The Beatles’ first session at Abbey Road on June 6, 1962.

Smith worked alongside Martin as engineer on every Beatles’ single and album up to and including Rubber Soul in 1965, earning the affectionate nickname “Norman Normal” from John Lennon.

After being promoted to a producer in 1966, Smith signed Pink Floyd and produced the band’s first three albums.

He also had Top 10 hit singles in his own right in the early 1970s under the name Hurricane Smith.