Philip Norman

Philip Norman is a journalist, author, and commentator on popular culture and style whom the London Sunday Times dubbed “The Historian of Cool,” and Vogue called “one of the wittiest and sharpest writers of his generation.”  His best-selling book Shout! The Beatles in Their Generation is considered the “definitive [Beatles] biography” (New York Times), and his New York Times best-selling, critically-acclaimed book, John Lennon: The Life (Harper) provides an unprecedented look at the legendary man. Norman has written and narrated several TV documentaries, appeared on national television shows in the U.S. and the U.K., including Good Morning America, Richard and Judy, the BBC, and Sky News. A talented raconteur, he has given “Evening With...” talks at the Edinburgh Festival and Isle of Wight Arts Festival, and spoken at Beatles conventions worldwide.

Norman began his in-depth coverage of the Beatles in 1968 when he was assigned to report on the Beatles’ own business utopia, Apple Corps, from the inside.His access and experiences allowed him to become the definitive biographer of the Beatles. His best-selling Shout! which was originally published in 1981, has been continuously in print ever since in languages all over world. The Chicago Sun-Times hailed it as “the best, most detailed, and most serious biography of the Beatles and their time.”

Norman’s John Lennon is an extraordinarily detailed, vibrantly written, in-depth account of the life of John Lennon – the most deeply researched and comprehensive biography to date. Bill Harry, who was with Lennon at art college and went on to edit Mersey Beat and write The John Lennon Encyclopedia, said of it: “Reading this book brings the John Lennon I knew vividly back to life.” John Lennon provides fascinating insights into the legendary musician’s chaotic childhood, the truth about his relationship to his father, his dangerous reactions to the loss of his mother and his best friend Stu Sutcliffe, through the unprecedented rise of the Beatles and the infighting in the band during the Yoko years, ending on the evening of his death in 1980. Complete with dozens of never-before-seen photos, this is the be-all and end-all biography of the star that was bigger than Elvis.

Norman is also the author of comprehensive biographies of the Rolling Stones, Elton John, and Buddy Holly, the author of four novels and two collections of short stories, and was chosen as one of the first 20 “Best of Young British Novelists” on the same list including Martin Amis and Salman Rushdie. Norman is a  playwright whose work has appeared on Radio 4 and BBC2 and he wrote the musical This Is Elvis, which debuted in 2006. He has been a writer and narrator for the TV documentaries Fantasy Island: Britain in the 1980s, Not Fade Away: In Search of Buddy Holly, and Babycham Night.

Norman was brought up in England in Ryde, Isle of Wight, where his father was an end-of-the-pier showman. Norman chronicled those years in his memoir, Babycham Night, which was read on Radio 4 as Book of the Week, described as “a masterpiece” by the London Sunday Times, and was made into a TV documentary of the same name.

Norman began his journalism career at the young age of 18. When he was 22 he won a Sunday Times talent contest and landed a job as a feature writer on the Sunday Times Magazine. He travelled the world as a star writer for the magazine, interviewing (among others) King Hussein of Jordan, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, President Gaddafy of Libya (first British journalist to do so), President Ferdinand Marcos of Philippines and wife Imelda, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, P.G. Wodehouse, J.R.R Tolkien, Truman Capote, David Hockney, Philip Roth, Senator Edward Kennedy, Harold Wilson, Edward Heath, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Johnny Cash, Little Richard, David Bowie, Rod Stewart, the Beach Boys, Fleetwood Mac, Cliff Richard, Bill Haley, Fats Domino, and the Everly Brothers. He was a regular columnist for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Guardian, and the Daily Express. His work has appeared in the Independent,  Independent On Sunday, Mail On Sunday, the New York Times, New York magazine, Vanity Fair, Harpers & Queen, Tatler, Cosmopolitan, The Spectator, The New Statesman, Rolling Stone, Playboy, GQ, and Granta.

Norman lives in London, England.

The Life of John Lennon

Shout: The Beatles in Their Generation

From Gandhi to Capote; Kennedy to Imelda: Stories From a Career Journalist