Larry Norman
Larry Norman
In 1950 Larry Norman’s family moved to San Francisco when he was 3. For a time they attended a black pentecostal church which clearly made a deep impression on the young Norman.
In 1967 Norman was briefly a member of local San Jose band People! who were a one hit wonder and released a cover of Zombies song “I love You” which went to number 1 in Japan and did well enough to sell more than a million copies and launched that band.
Norman promptly left People! but was offered a recording contract by Capitol and in 1970 they released ‘Upon This Rock’ which was among the first of a new genre called Christian Rock. It was a kind of urban gospel but caused much controversy at the time. It was seen as too contemporary for those in the church establishment at the time and was denounced by various church leaders.