Norm Hacking - Bio
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Norm Hacking
August 1, 1950 - November 25, 2007For more than 30 years, Toronto-based determinedly-indie songwriter Norm Hacking has been winning loyal fans and critical acclaim for his beautifully crafted songs, with their moving and often humorous insights into life, love, songwriting - and cats!
A Scarborough (Toronto) native, Norm Hacking first performed paid gigs and recorded original songs as a student at Scarborough College (a campus of the University of Toronto). He returned to record 1976 and 1977 concerts which became his first solo album Norm Hacking Live (1977). Critically acclaimed albums Cut Roses (1980) and Stubborn Ghost (1988) followed and led to many festival and concert appearances. A video of one song ("Sammy") aired on Nashville Network. He cut back touring when he became the single caregiving parent to his young son Ben.
In 1996 with his son now a teen, Norm released a "best of" his vinyl on CD (with four new songs), Skysongs... A Writer's Collection (remastered and reissued in 2001) and returned to more active performing. In 1996-97 Norm was Caledon Folk Festival Artistic Director. His more recent CDs are The Ache (with Ontario Arts Council assistance; to be released in 2008) and Orange Cats (with Kirk Elliott; see below), which resonates with all ages. A Day in the Studio (a 1993 solo tape recorded in one day) and tracks on several benefit and compilation CDs were also available to fans.
A stellar group of U.S. and Canadian songwriters recorded 18 of his songs for a tribute album One Voice: A Tribute to Norm Hacking, Vol. 1 (released late 2001). Wayne Marshall of Three Flamingos Music initiated the concert / recording project. The songwriters performing Norm's songs include Chicago's Michael Smith, Nashville's Alan Rhody, Whitehorse's Mikel Miller, Kingston's Roger James and from Toronto Nancy White, Chris Whiteley, Ron Nigrini, Jory Nash, Slowpoke, Jason Fowler and many others. Volume 2 (in progress) will include Tom Paxton and a song Rick Fielding wrote about Norm.
Norm is known for hosting high quality open stage series at a number of Toronto venues for more than a decade, helping create a real sense of community among aspiring and experienced folk artists. He has also nurtured many by conducting songwriting workshops.
Norm's artistic hats also include stage actor (musical, dramatic and comic), poet, soundtrack writer and journalistic columnist. A season with the Picton (Ontario) Area Players included a co-lead role (Oscar) in "The Odd Couple" and direction of "The American Dream" (Edward Albee). He also performed the prominent Balladeer role (originated by Cedric Smith) in Barry Broadfoot's "Ten Lost Years" with TWP in the On Stage 1981 international theatre festival in Toronto. He has written "to spec" for TV (Great Canadian Parks series) and the 2003 Back to School with Franklin feature video. Since early 1992, Norm has written a popular monthly column, "Race Track Hack" in Taxi News; a selection of these sometimes autobiographical stories and musings is on Norm's website. As audiences loved the poems and prose Norm increasingly incorporated in his concerts, Iridescent Music invited him to record his first spoken word CD I Am the Night, released in late 2005.
His latest CD of songs (with multi-instrumentalist Kirk Elliott) Orange Cats Make the Very Best Friends is winning a wider spectrum of fans with frequent CBC and other radio play, inclusion of "Cats Everywhere" on Jurgen Gothe's (CBC DiscDrive) "Hit List of 2002" and a couple of years with a Festival Distribution top titles profile. The album earned Norm and Kirk a 2004 Canadian Indie Music Award nomination in the Favourite Children's Artist / Group category. Norm enjoys the email fans send with cat stories. For his account of his first song about cats, "Syd and The Flea" written 20 years ago, see his Catman column for Taxi News. Little did he anticipate then that another song about cats - "When Cats Go Wrong" from the CD - would become the text of a book, beautifully illustrated by Cynthia Nugent, published by Raincoast Books. Released in Canada in October 2004 and in the U.S. in April 2005, the When Cats Go Wrong book (with CD single of the song) was a hit with kids, teachers, the public and critics, prompting release of a paperback edition (same size, with CD single) in Canada in February 2006. So Norm adds yet another hat - as children's author and performer!
Info / Management: Shirley Gibson, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
info@normhacking.com Send an email to contact Norm's manager or to subscribe to his email newsletter - there will be more news.
Label: Three Flamingos Music, Brantford, Ontario
CD distribution (music CDs): Festival Distribution, Vancouver, B.C., Canada 1-800-633-8282 (web or phone credit card orders) or through stores.
CD distribution (spoken word CD): Iridescent Music, Toronto (web sales, order form)
Last updated March 2, 2008