Norman, Jim Ed (16th October 1948-Present)

He is a conductor, musician, arranger and producer born in Fort Myers, Florida, who started his career in music when he played the guitar and keyboards with Don Henley in the Texan group Felicity in 1969.

In 1970 Felicity moved to Los Angeles, changed their name to Shiloh and recorded their debut self-titled album with Kenny Rogers as the producer. Following the album, however, the group decided to go their own ways and by 1972 Jim has joined the group known as Uncle Jim’s Music in time to record their 2^nd album.

By 1973 Jim was playing piano and arranging the strings for albums by the Eagles, which he continued to do until 1980, and he also wrote the arrangements for the strings as well as the horns for two of Linda Ronstadt’s albums.

By the middle of the 1970s he had also ventured into the world of production and this led to him producing albums for many successful acts of the day including three of Anne Murray’s platinum albums and the Grammy Award winning “You Needed Me”. He worked with her right through into the 1980s producing two CMA Award winning albums which also went gold.

By now he had made his name with the Californian sound of the 1970s and because much of that sound leant towards country music he started to become known for his work with country music artists such as Hank Williams Jr.

The country influence alongside a variety of other genres in his music pulled him to Nashville where he became Head of A&R at Warner Bros. Nashville and was made President of the company in 1984. This didn’t hold him back from continuing to produce and arrange further successful albums and he was also instrumental in Warner’s expansion into a Hispanic label, Christian, Progressive and Gospel divisions. In 1989 Cashbox named him their Producer of the Year for his work with Crystal Gayle and the following year he was the recipient of Time Warner’s Andrew Heiskell Community Service Award. During the 1990s he was also the recipient of the Anti-Defamation League Johnny Cash Americanism Award and the Leadership Music Bridge Award.

In 2004 he retired from the business and move to Hawaii but his retirement was very shirtlived as he went straight back into working with music when he started became a contributor to the work by local artists and created the MELE program at the Honolulu Community College. He also began a music business programme that was organised between Nashville’s Belmont University and the University if Hawaii. Needless to say the pull of production took him right back to Nashville in 2010.

The artists he has worked with during the years are countless but a few of them include John Anderson, Kim Carnes, Jackie DeShannon, Bela Fleck & The Flecktones, Glenn Frey, Janie Fricke, Crystal Gayle, Faith Hill, Brenda Lee, Gordon Lightfoot, Mac McAnally, Michael Martin Murphey, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Juice Newton, Mark O’Connor, The Osmonds, Charlie Rich, B.J. Thomas, Randy Travis, Travis Tritt, Jennifer Warnes, Trisha Yearwood and Dwight Yoakam.

As you can imagine the albums he has worked on during his career as a musician, arranger, conductor and/or producer are far too numerous to mention, but a selection of them include Hat Trick by America, Sevens by Garth Brooks, One of These Nights by The Eagles, No Fun Aloud by Glenn Frey, Duets by Emmylou Harris, The Good Side of Tomorrow by Dave Loggins, Let’s Keep It That Way by Anne Murray, The Tour Collection by Dolly Parton, Don’t Cry Now by Linda Ronstadt, Stranger in Town by Bob Seger and There’s a Song in This by Uncle Jim’s Music and Montana Café by Hank Williams Jr.

He continues his work in production and is a Senior Fellow at Vanderbilt University’s Curb Center for Art, Enterprise and Public Policy. He is also the Founding President of the organisation Leadship Music and supporting music tuition for low income families he is a past President and Original Fund Raising chairman of the W.O. Smith Nashville Community Music School.

In 2016 he was awarded the Bob Kingsley Living Legend Award at the Grand Ole Opry.

Bob Seger recordings
Feel Like a Number
Capitol P-A-5077 (S97843A) (US 45)

Here he plays his piano arrangement on “She’s Gonna Let You Down” by America…

Sources:

Norman, Jim Ed (16th October 1948-Present)

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