It is with great sadness that we have learned of the death, on 3-March-2008, of Norman Smith, former Abbey Road engineer, aged 85. Norman Smith worked with The Beatles and helped create the sound of all their early recordings from 1962-65.

Dave Harries worked with Norman Smith during his early years at EMI:

"He was a very modest engineer and always one for a joke. One day Alma Cogan was in and when she went out of the control room Norman dressed up in her coat and did a great impression of her. She came back in and caught him red handed!

"In order to get the job at EMI he lied about his age but once there proved a great asset to the studio and to all the guys who worked with him. He was always very willing to share his knowledge and keen to experiment with new ways to record and create the best possible results. Norman consitantly had a great vision of what made a song great including the importance of the contribution that the sound made.

"Norman was indeed a great Engineer, Producer, Artist and song writer. As Hurricane Smith he had two chart hits, "Oh Babe, What Would You Say" and "Don't let it Die".

"The last time I spoke to him was at last year's 75th party at Abbey Road.

"His great work will live on."

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