UPDATE ON LARRY NORMAN’S BIOGRAPHY
SINCE 2006 ALAN GIBSON HAS BEEN WORKING ON AN OFFICIAL LARRY NORMAN BIOGRAPHY PROVISIONALLY TITLED "THIRTY FIVE YEARS IN EUROPE".
THE BIOGRAPHY WAS ALMOST COMPLETE AFTER MANY MONTHS OF GENERAL RESEARCH AND LIASION WITH LARRY BEFORE HIS DEATH IN 2008. ONE OF LARRY'S LAST REQUESTS WAS FOR GIBSON TO COMPLETE HIS BIOGRAPHY.
LARRY HAD GIVEN HIS FULL SUPPORT AND FRIENDS AND ASSOCIATES OF LARRY SUCH AS STEVE TURNER, DAVE MARKEE, SCOTT ROSS, CLIFF RICHARD, GORDON GILTRAP, NORMAN STONE AND LARRY'S BROTHER CHARLES NORMAN HAVE BEEN CO-OPERATING ON THIS PROJECT.
YOU STILL HAVE TIME TO MAKE A CONTRIBUTION AS A MUSICIAN, PROMOTER, FRIEND OR PHAN OF LARRY NORMAN; SEE BELOW FOR DETAILS.
In December 2009 a press release by Gibson stated: “For me, 2009 has been a very busy year with many projects on my agenda. I have also worked many hours on writing Larry Norman's biography – and equally I’ve spent much too much time seeking to locate and make appointments with hard-to-source key contributors. But thankfully, it appears that only a small number of concluding interviews are necessary. When these are completed I expect to be able to move on to start editing the sizeable script sometime hopefully towards the end of 2010.
When I started this project my main concern was to complete the manuscript as quickly as possible. However, since beginning work on the biography, my priority has changed somewhat. Now my main concern is not with the timescale but rather with concentrating on researching thoroughly and writing an extensive and balanced manuscript.
As a result, to date I have consulted with and interviewed several hundred people around the world about their experiences and memories of Larry Norman, including fellow musicians, promoters, roadies, record company executives, managers, church leaders, friends, fans and family.
I trust that, when completed, this lengthy endeavour will have been expansively researched and chronicled”.
YOU STILL HAVE TIME TO MAKE A CONTRIBUTION:
Would you like to help write Larry's Biography? Well now you can be. It's quite unusual but it makes perfect sense.
Any anecdotes? (Funny stories?)
Any unexpected sightings? (Like at a restaurant after the concert?)
Did you meet the person who you ended up marrying at one of Larry's concerts?
Did you have problems that seemed to be addressed at one of his concerts?
Did you have your life "turned around" by his music, or something that he said from the stage? Or said directly to you after the concert?
Do you remember anything funny that happened at the concert you were at?
What rumors have you heard about Larry over the years? What wild theories have people concocted about him? What are some good things you've heard about him from other people?
Do you know anyone who was positively affected by Larry's music or his appearance at a concert?
Do you remember anyone being afraid of Larry because they didn't understand his music? Or maybe they thought he wasn't a Christian, for any reason. His hair? Wearing blue jeans in a church? Some political comment he made? Some theological point he expressed?
For some of you, this might go back 35 years when he was first considered Christianity's bad boy because of his startling stand-up comedy routines and songs which seemed to say that America wasn't the most perfect country on earth?
Larry was also the first artist to stand up against various theologies like "the prosperity doctrine", "backwards masking", etc. So he took a lot of hits from the Christian community.
And he was criticized for his message of feeding the poor and street witnessing to prostitutes and drug addicts and bringing them into the church as part of Christ's mandate to us as believers.
And then there were Larry's sarcastic comedies about the space program and American politics.
Does this give you any ideas or remind you of things you heard or experiences you may have had because of his music or his concert appearances? You can write something that is quite long. Or you can write about one or several things that you recall.
This is a great chance to get your memories published, get your perspective down in print. If you want to have any of your memories or anecdotes published in LARRY'S BIOGRAPHY, please write to Alan Gibson at: mail@larrynormanbiography.com
SUBMIT YOUR PHOTOGRAPHS, RECOLLECTIONS, MEMORIES, STORIES OR ANECDOTES ABOUT LARRY NORMAN BY EMAIL AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN PURCHASING THE LARRY NORMAN BIOGRAPHY PLEASE EMAIL mail@larrynormanbiography.com TO BE KEPT INFORMED OF THE PUBLICATION DATE.