He released a few new projects and re-assembled his classics for release through his website, larrynorman.com. Occasional festival appearances were rare treats for the faithful fans, but he was so far outside the mainstream that most of today’s Christian music fans have absolutely no idea who Larry Norman is.
In 1993, ForeFront released
One Way; A Tribute to Larry Norman. The disc featured many of the top artists of the day, including dcTalk, covering Norman classics. dcTalk would also cover “I Wish We’d All Been Ready” on their 1997
Welcome to the Freak Show live album.
The fire he fanned continues to burn to this day. Much of the current faith-fueled music scene can trace its existence all the way back to this lanky San Jose kid with the quizzical face, the ripped blue jeans and the simple message that Jesus loves us. His reach extends well into the mainstream where he was admired by artists like U2, John Mellancamp, Bob Dylan and alternative/punk legend Frank Black of Pixies fame. Black, with his ’90s band The Catholics, covered Norman’s song “Six Sixty Six” and frequently went out of his way to laud his impact. In a statement issued the day after Norman’s death, Black called the singer “The most Christ-like man I ever knew.”
In 2001, when U2’s Bono visited Nashville to speak with Christian artists about his DATA campaign, the only artist he specifically asked about was Larry Norman. Norman couldn’t make that trip, so Bono visited him on the road later that year.
His flaws were many, and unfortunately, they often kept him more than arms length from the industry he inadvertently helped to create. But in time, most of his harshest critics accepted that despite his faults, and maybe because of them, he was an amazing person who had given the Church an incredible gift. His one-time protégée and best friend Randy Stonehill had distanced himself from Norman for over 20 years following deep personal conflict between the two. In 2001 they reconciled, leaving the past behind and reuniting on stage at Cornerstone.
Norman struggled with heart disease for most of the last decade. On Sunday, February 24 his struggle ended. He died peacefully as his heart slowed to a stop. He was 60-years-old. It is certainly no overstatement to say that Larry Norman is to Christian music what John Lennon is to rock & roll or Bob Dylan is to folk music. His contributions deserve to be discovered by future generations, and his enduring legacy includes the fantastic truth that despite his personal weakness and frailty, God used him to accomplish amazing things.
John J. Thompson is an artist, author, pastor, music journalist and industry veteran. He founded True Tunes and Gyroscope Arts and currently resides in Nashville.
JohnJThompson.com