Norman Greenbaum

Greenbaum lives in Petaluma, California. Dropped by Virgin Records after the failure of their album Romantic? (1989), the group were now signed to EastWest and their line-up included producer Ian Stanley, who helped them to achieve a more modern sound. "It sounds as fresh today as when it was recorded," Greenbaum said in an interview. The group made a surprise comeback in 1994. The song has been used in many advertisements and television shows as well as films including Remember the Titans, Contact, Apollo 13 (film), Ocean's Eleven and Wayne’s World 2. number one, "Human", but other singles made little impact. The song, with its combination of "heavy" guitar, hand-clapping, and spiritual lyrics was a memorable one-hit wonder. The Jam & Lewis-produced Crash LP (1985) did provide a U.S.

Greenbaum is best known for his "Spirit in the Sky", which sold 2 million copies in 1969 and 1970 . The band also had a number of other hits but their success faded towards the mid-1980s. Norman Greenbaum, a singer and songwriter, was born 20 November 1942 in Malden, Massachusetts. Their most famous single "Don't You Want Me" reached number one in the UK charts during the Christmas of 1981 and was one of the biggest selling singles of that year. The band achieved a brief spell of success in the early 1980s with their style of Synthpop music. Re-energized by the addition of new members, the band went on to record their breakthrough album Dare, and have many chart successes.

At the time, synthpop was starting to become fashionable due to the success of groups like OMD and Ultravox, but female vocals were rarely heard on synth records, so the addition of Sulley and Catherall gave the group a distinctive sound. However, they recruited bass player Ian Burden, guitarist Jo Callis (formerly of The Rezillos) and, famously, fronted the band with two singers, Susan Ann Sulley and Joanne Catherall, whom they had met in a Sheffield nightclub. When Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware left to form Heaven 17 it seemed that Phil Oakey and Adrian Wright, the sole remaining group members, would be unable to sustain the band, which, just before the split, was beginning to achieve wider popularity. Their first single to chart was 'Empire State Human', which peaked at number 62 in the charts.

Shortly afterwards, they signed up with Virgin Records, and by the early 1980s had become a successful British electropop band. Originally a post punk synthesiser based group from Sheffield, the Human League (previously known as the Future) released their first single, "Being Boiled" c/w "Circus Of Death" on Bob Last's Fast Product record label in 1978. A fan site devoted to pictures of the Human League in concert during 2004. (http://www.redpenguin.net/bandphotos/human-league.php). Secrets Online, excellent fan site with indepth Human League coverage both past and present. (http://www.league-online.com/).

Blind Youth, a site dedicated to the early post-punk works of Human League. (http://www.blindyouth.co.uk/). A Human League fan site (http://users.bigpond.net.au/human-league/home.htm). "Rock And Roll Is Dead" (2003) was a single from fellow Sheffield band, Kings Have Long Arms, that paid tribute to Oakey and eventually was re-released with Oakey doing some guest vocals. Today" (2003) was a single from Alex Gold featuring Oakey on vocals.

"L.A. "Together In Electric Dreams" was a solo single for Oakey rather than the whole League, but has been included on Human League albums as if it were by the whole band. 'The Human League Interview'. 'The Human League Promo Mix CD' (not available).

'The Golden Hour Of The Future'. 'Dance Like A Star' (EP). 'The Future Tapes' (unreleased). 'In Darkness' (a bootleg demo album).

'Taverner Tape' (1978). 'Human League Cassette' (1978). League Live (DVD). The Very Best Of (EMI, 2 CDs, CD2 is all remixes, also on DVD).

"All I Ever Wanted". Secrets (The Japanese version has three bonus tracks)