Manx Heritage Foundation: TIME TO REMEMBER: Ray Norman MANX HERITAGE FOUNDATION ORAL HISTORY PROJECT ORAL HISTORY TRANSCRIPT ‘TIME TO REMEMBER’ Interviewee: Mr Ray Norman Date of birth: Place of birth: Interviewer: David Callister Recorded by: David Callister Date recorded: No recording date Topic(s): Joining the Army Cadet Band Island Music Shop Working as a butcher National Service Compère at The Prospect The Norman Combo Band The Texas Bar at Onchan Head Playing at The Casino Tony Christie and Tom Jones Boat racing and Round the Island Races Playing in The Continental Kelly’s Records Backing Vera Lynn at The Adelphi Hotel Liverpool Playing at Rushen Abbey and The Empress Hotel Ray Norman - Mr N David Callister - DC 1 Manx Heritage Foundation: TIME TO REMEMBER: Ray Norman DC This interview is with Ray Norman, presumably Raymond Norman when you were born, as it? Mr N That’s right, yes. DC Middle name? Mr N Oh, Thomas. DC Raymond Thomas Norman. Mr N Well, Thomas Raymond actually, I hate Thomas, I don’t like Thomas. DC So did you get Ray at school, did you, I suppose? Mr N Yes, I was called ‘Spider’ at school. DC Well, we all had nicknames, didn’t we? Mr N Well, I had a big chest and skinny legs, you know. DC But we’re here really to talk mostly about your music and your career in music, but obviously there must be early, very early influences that sort of got you into music, were you sent to learn music? Mr N No, I wasn’t, I was in the Army Cadet band, you know, as a drummer, and I think I went from there really, you know. Because before then I used to get the old biscuit tins out and I’d be playing the biscuit tins. DC Well, was the drummer the easiest musician’s job, then, was it, or not? Mr N Well, I tossed up guitar or drums when I decided I wanted to be a musician and drums won. DC Drums won – made the most noise. Mr N It took my about a year playing the drums and singing at the same time. 2 Manx Heritage Foundation: TIME TO REMEMBER: Ray Norman DC And then you moved onto guitar after that, did you? Mr N No, I didn’t, no ... DC Never did? Mr N ... stayed on drums, yes, stayed on drums. DC Yes, so you always stayed on drums then. Mr N Always drums and lead singer, yes. DC Did you go to a wind instrument of any kind or not? Mr N No, Dougie was the wind instrument. DC So drum kits in those days then, presumably, I mean they wouldn’t be as expensive, certainly as they are now, would you have to save up for a long time to afford them, or what? Mr N No, not really, because I had Island Music [Shop] at the time and I used to do deals with, like Holner, and stuff like that and get drum kits for free or drum kits at really rock bottom price, you know, so I could afford all the best. DC So that got you going really? Mr N Oh, yes, I’ve had Ludwigs, Slingerland, I’ve had Premier, all sorts. DC And is there a kit of drums that’s better than any others, that you – like a Rolls Royce kit. Mr N Well, Premier, I think, is about the best in the world, now. DC And what does it consist of, a band drummer, what are the drums, I mean tell me what they are in sequence, sort of thing. Mr N Well, there’s a bass drum, snare drum and tom toms, surrounded by an array of cymbals, I use the Swiss cymbals, Paiste, as against the Turkish ones. 3 Manx Heritage Foundation: TIME TO REMEMBER: Ray Norman DC Where do you learn the skills for drumming then, do you listen to other drummers or do you just, sort of, build it up for yourself, because you can’t go to a drum teacher, can you? Mr N Well, you can, yes. DC Can you? Mr N Oh, yes, yes, you can get lessons on drums, but I only had one. DC One lesson? Mr N One lesson and I decided I could do better on my own, so. DC But you’ve got to have an instinct for rhythm, haven’t you? Mr N Oh, yes, yes, your feet are doing one thing, you know, your arms are doing another, and then to sing at the same time was quite difficult to start. DC Well, that was the technique you had to learn, really, wasn’t it? Mr N Yes, absolutely, yes, it’s very difficult. DC Well, this got you – what year would be talking about now and what age would you be when you started all this then? Mr N Oh, I was mid 30s when I went pro. DC But before that, I mean when you first started playing drums and first, with any kind of organised group, when would that be. Mr N I’d be in my late ‘20s, late ‘20s. DC So you were a late developer into it, then. Mr N Absolutely, yes. DC Okay, so what were you doing before that, let’s get that down, I mean you were 4 Manx Heritage Foundation: TIME TO REMEMBER: Ray Norman butchering, weren’t you? Mr N Yes, I was, I worked for Bert Gray’s, pork butchers, and used to carry the sausages and the pies on my head through Strand Street. DC In a container, I hope. Mr N On a tray, yes, on a tray. DC Why did you carry them through Strand Street? Mr N Well, I had to, to take them to the shop. DC Oh, you were going out from the factory to the shop, were you? Mr N That’s right, yes, yes. DC So you were trained as a butcher then, obviously. Mr N Yes, well, as a cook really, yes. I do all the cooking now. DC Oh, right, yes, yes. What was Bert Gray like then? Mr N Bert Gray? He was all right, he was quite old when I went there, you know, and he was a nice guy. DC Was he still working in the shop? Mr N Oh, yes, yes, yes. DC It was different in those days for people, the butcher’s shop now has moved into the supermarket, hasn’t it, I suppose, mostly? Mr N That’s right, oh, yes, yes. Bert Craine then took over from Bert Grey, do you remember Bertie Craine? DC Vaguely, yes. 5 Manx Heritage Foundation: TIME TO REMEMBER: Ray Norman Mr N He was a singer, like Bert Gray. DC Oh, yes, Bert was a great singer, wasn’t he? Mr N Oh, yes, yes, and he died. I worked for Bertie and I left and went to Mylchreest’s Motors as a ‘grease monkey.’ DC That was a bit of a change, a big change really. Mr N I just wanted to get out of the food, the catering. DC Did you? Mr N Yes, because you know, you finish work, say at 5 o’clock and then you’ve got to clean everything up, you know, so you had another couple of hours and it was always left to me because I was the youngest. DC Oh right. And what were you cooking? You were cooking the meat in various forms, were you? Mr N That’s right, yes. DC What, sausages and stuff? Mr N Sausages, making sausages, making pies, cooking legs of pork and stuff like that. DC It didn’t turn you into a vegetarian or anything, did it? Mr N No, I still love it. DC So then you jump off from cooking into a garage, totally different then? Mr N Yes, well, no, to be honest I made a mistake there, I went from Bert Gray’s, or Bertie Craine’s, to the army. DC Oh, yes, that would be National Service, would it? 6 Manx Heritage Foundation: TIME TO REMEMBER: Ray Norman Mr N National Service, yes, and then I came out, I went back then, and then I left after a few months, went to Mylchreest’s Motors then. DC So a point came then, with your musical work that it was building up to the extent that you knew you were going to become a professional, did you? Mr N I didn’t at the time, I used to go to The Prospect and I used to get up and sing and all the rest of it and then one night the compère hadn’t turned up so they asked me to compère the whole show and I loved it, I really did, you know, getting people up to sing and singing with them, it was great. And from then on I formed a little trio and the rest is history. DC So what was it, your own trio and your own name on it, initially, before it became The Combo. Mr N It was always called The Combo. DC Always The Combo? Mr N Oh, from the start, because I thought Combo, I can add or delete, you know, oh, yes, The Norman Combo could have been three, four, five or whatever. DC That’s it, exactly, yes. So that was a good move. So who were the fellows that would be with you in those first days then? Mr N In The Prospect was a pianist called Eddie Humphreys, he used to be up at the old cowboy thing up at Douglas Head, Onchan Head.