Chris+norman

Known for his solo hits in the 1980s as well as his hits with the band Smokie in the '70s, Chris Norman is a British soft rock singer with an international following whose career spans several decades. As Smokie's popularity trailed off around the turn of the decade, Norman split from the band and made his solo album debut in 1982 with Rock Away Your Teardrops. While his debut album was fairly unsuccessful, his second full-length effort, Some Hearts Are Diamonds (1986), was another story, spawning the international Top Ten smash hit single "Midnight Lady." Norman's popularity was greatest in Germany, where he racked up several additional hits during the late '80s, among them "No Arms Can Ever Hold You," "Sarah (You Take My Breath Away)," and "Broken Heroes."

Famed for fronting huge 70’s hit band Smokie, Chris Norman has gone on to carve a successful solo career since leaving the band in 1986, when his first single ‘Midnight Lady’ became a massive hit throughout Europe including holding the German No.1 slot for 6 weeks! Now, with over 20 solo albums to his name, he’s back with a brand new collection and sounding better than ever. It is an eclectic mix of new and original recordings that have that his unmistakable sound. The tracks are hallmarks of a true singer-songwriter with timeless melodies and memorable harmonies that soar. The single ‘Crawling Up The Wall’ is an instant classic highlighting Chris’ unique and instantly recognisable voice.

Hits From The Heart is a compilation album by Chris Norman (ex lead singer of Smokie), released in 1988 by Hansa Records. Dieter Bohlen, formerly of Modern Talking, produced the album and wrote several of the songs. The lead single, "Midnight Lady", was a number one hit throughout much of Europe.

Known both for his solo hits in the '80s as well as his hits with the band Smokie in the '70s, Chris Norman is a British soft rock singer with an international following whose career spans several decades. A few years after the success of his 1978 Suzi Quatro duet, "Stumblin' In," he parted ways with Smokie and found solo success with his second album, 1986's Some Hearts Are Diamonds. In the decades that followed, Norman proved himself to be surprisingly prolific, delivering a new studio album every two or three years and maintaining a large fan base in Germany, where his chart success continued into the 2000s. Following a 2004 resurgence and Top Ten German hit with "Amazing," he continued releasing new material as well as career-spanning collections like Definitive Collection: Smokie And Solo Years.

This unique double album presents recordings of Chris Norman’s greatest hits from the last 30 years of his musical career. Disc one contains no less than 16 Smokie tracks, whereas the 19 tracks on disc two deliver an exciting mix of solo hits and five as yet unreleased songs and demonstrates the impressive artistic development of Chris Norman over the last three decades.

"The Interchange" is orman's first solo record where he embraces his roots in folk and country-rock. There are lots of fingerpicked acoustic guitars in the style of early Bob Dylan. The albums starts strongly with the title track, which features nothing but an acoustic guitar, a bit of synthesizer and vocals. In the second part of the song there are beautiful harmonies all sung by Chris Norman himself. The next song "Witch's Promise" is a bit more up tempo but still rooted in folk.

Diamond Star Collection is a compilation album by Chris Norman (ex lead singer of Smokie), released in 1995 by Arcade Records. Known for his solo hits in the 1980s as well as his hits with the band Smokie in the '70s, Chris Norman is a British soft rock singer with an international following whose career spans several decades. As Smokie's popularity trailed off around the turn of the decade, Norman split from the band and made his solo album debut in 1982 with Rock Away Your Teardrops. While his debut album was fairly unsuccessful, his second full-length effort, Some Hearts Are Diamonds (1986), was another story, spawning the international Top Ten smash hit single "Midnight Lady." Norman's popularity was greatest in Germany, where he racked up several additional hits during the late '80s, among them "No Arms Can Ever Hold You," "Sarah (You Take My Breath Away)," and "Broken Heroes."

So good to hear Chris Norman is still turning out great albums. The former Smokie lead singer with the distinctive voice has still got it. A nice variety of tracks here - all well delivered - and a second CD which contains additional tracks, some extended versions of songs on the first CD and 3 karaoke versions - instrumental only - for you to sing along to if you so wish. Well worth the money and so good to hear that one of the voices of the 70's has not faded one bit with the passing years.