Blast From The Past - Hurricane Smith
I am a massive fan of the US comedy series "Frasier" which was a spin off from "Cheers" and which is so well written and acted that even on repeat viewings can leave me in stitches.
A recent episode had Frasier trying to woo another woman who was oblivious to his charms to such an extent that he had to express his desires in song at a function they were attending.
The song he chose to sing was "Oh Babe What Would You Say" which ringed some distant bell in chez Helpless Dancer and sure enough after some googling it was revealed that the song had been a hit for Hurricane Smith in 1972.
Hurricane Smith was in fact a performing pseudonym for Norman Smith, who will be 85 later this week, Norman was an employee of EMI and as a sound engineer worked on all Beatles output up to and including "Rubber Soul".
Norman was promoted to the position of in house producer where he produced amongst other things the first three Pink Floyd albums and the iconic "S F Sorrow" by the Pretty Things.
By the seventies he had the urge to perform and as "Hurricane" had in 1971 a UK hit with "Don't Let It Die" which along with "Oh Baby What Would You Say" were self penned, the latter release was in fact a demo of the song he had made with a view to selling it on to another artist, Mickie Most was however impressed enough to issue it as it was, a third hit followed via a cover of Gilbert O'Sullivan's "Who Was It".
A few minor hits followed but soon the Hurricane ran out of wind only to return in 2004 to target the nostagia market with a re-recording of his self penned hits under the title "From Me To You" the sleeve contained notes from both paul McCartney and members of Pink Floyd.
