There isn’t much to say about Chris Norman: to this day he is one of the greatest artists of our time – he has undoubtedly made music history with his “Smokie” hits and solo successes.
Since leaving Smokie in the mid-80s, the charming Brit has continued to deliver honest, handmade rock-pop albums that delight every music fan.
Chris’ solo career began in 1986 with the song, ‘Midnight Lady’, which was a huge success across Europe and was number 1 in the charts in Germany for six weeks. This was followed by further singles such as ‘Some Hearts are Diamonds’, ‘Broken Heroes’, ‘Sarah’, and ‘As good as it gets’ along with the solo albums ‘Different Shades’, ‘Break the Ice’, ‘The Interchange’, ‘The Growing Years’, ‘Reflections’, ‘Breathe Me In’, ‘Handmade’, ‘Break Away’, and others.
Chris was pleasantly surprised when he received CMT Europe’s International Video Star of the Year award in 1994 for the videos ‘Jealous Heart’, ‘The Growing Years’ and ‘Red Hot Screaming Love’. In 1997 he recorded an album of classics with the Riga Dome Boy’s Choir, which opened up even more aspects and avenues for his music.
In 1994, Chris formed a new band and went on tour for the first time in six years. Since then he has toured extensively worldwide. Two outstanding performances in Mongolia deserve special mention, with 70,000 people celebrating each performance.
2004 was a very busy year for Chris. At the start of the year he took part in the Pro 7 show ‘Comeback – the Big Chance’, which meant he was away from home for almost the entire 10 weeks. However, it was worth it because he was named the overall winner of the show, which increased his profile once again and gave him a media presence again. In the same year, Radio Regenbogen gave him the prize for the “best male voice”, which Chris was very happy about. In May, his single ‘Amazing’ climbed to number 9 in the German charts and his album ‘Break Away’ reached number 27.
In 2005, Chris reached number 5 in the DVD charts with his live double DVD ‘One acoustic evening with Chris Norman’. The first DVD shows Chris and band performing a 1.5-hour unplugged performance for an invited audience and the second shows a live concert in Vienna in front of 50,000 spectators.
His CD Million Miles was released at the beginning of 2006, followed by a long tour and many festival appearances throughout Europe. The album “Coming Home” was released in the UK in 2007, which he presented live across the country on 35 dates.
After a successful festival summer, his long-awaited alum “Close Up” was released in October 2007, accompanied by a long tour of Germany and Austria.
The double album “Chris Norman, The Hits!” followed in Germany in February 2009. From his Smokie and Solo Years” accompanied by a long tour of Germany. The album was released very successfully in Denmark (Gold), Norway (2nd place), Sweden and South Africa, among others.
In 2011 the time finally came and with “Time Traveler” Chris Norman produced an album that hits the nerve of the times – it sounds modern and incredibly familiar at the same time.
When choosing the songs, Norman had a clear vision: “I wanted to cover songs that come from different musical eras, not just old classics, but also current titles. For me, the main criteria when choosing songs was “Do I love this song?” and the songs I chose are all titles that I love.”
In autumn 2011, Chris presented these songs during an extensive tour of Germany.
Chris Norman is currently on the road with his live band and his many hits…
