Norman “Hurricane” Smith died March 3. He was 85.
Smith was a staff producer at EMI in the late-’60s, recently promoted from a successful stint as engineer for The Beatles, when we was assigned to produce Pink Floyd‘s debut, “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn” (1967). He went on to produce “A Saucerful of Secrets” (1968), “Ummagumma” (1969), and to executive produce “Atom Heart Mother” (1970).
He also did production work for The Pretty Things, Freddie & the Dreamers and Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas.
As a recording artist, Smith had a #3 hit in the United States with “Oh, Babe, What Would You Say?” in 1972. His cover of Gilbert O’Sullivan‘s “Who Was It?” reached #49 in early ’73.
