Philip Norman is an English novelist, biographer, journalist

Journalist

A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

 and playwright

Playwright

A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...

.

Norman grew up in Ryde

Ryde

Ryde is a British seaside town, civil parish and the most populous town and urban area on the Isle of Wight, with a population of approximately 30,000. It is situated on the north-east coast. The town grew in size as a seaside resort following the joining of the villages of Upper Ryde and Lower...

, Isle of Wight

Isle of Wight

The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...

. He attended Ryde School, and his father, Clive Norman, ran the Seagull Ballroom on Ryde Pier

Ryde Pier

Ryde Pier is an early 19th century pier serving the town of Ryde, on the Isle of Wight, off the south coast of England.- Before the pier :Before the pier was built, passengers to Ryde had the uncomfortable experience of coming ashore on the back of a porter and then, depending on the state of the...

. He described his childhood in his book Babycham Night. (Relatives of his produced the eponymous

Babycham

Babycham is the trade name of a light, sparkling perry invented by Francis Edwin Showering , a brewer in Shepton Mallet in Somerset, England; the name is now owned by Constellation Europe Limited. Launched in the United Kingdom in 1953, the drink was marketed with pioneering television...

 champagne perry

Perry

Perry is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented pears. Perry has been common for centuries in Britain, particularly in the Three Counties of Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire, and in parts of south Wales; and France, especially Normandy and Anjou.In more recent years, commercial...

 in Shepton Mallet

Shepton Mallet

Shepton Mallet is a small rural town and civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset in South West England. Situated approximately south of Bristol and east of Wells, the town is estimated to have a population of 9,700. It contains the administrative headquarters of Mendip District Council...

).

At the end of the 1960s, as a correspondent for The Sunday Times, he was assigned to investigate and report on the breakup of Beatles’ own business, Apple Corps

Apple Corps

Apple Corps Ltd. is a multi-armed multimedia corporation founded in January 1968 by the members of The Beatles to replace their earlier company and to form a conglomerate. Its name is a pun. Its chief division is Apple Records, which was launched in the same year...

.

Norman is the author of Shout!: The Beatles in Their Generation, described by a New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

writer as " ... the definitive biography – comprehensive, intelligent, sensitively written and exhaustively researched" of the Fab Four. A Chicago Sun-Times

Chicago Sun-Times

The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...

review raved that Shout! is "The best, most detailed, and most serious biography of the Beatles

The Beatles

The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

 and their time."

In October of 2008 his 800+ page book John Lennon: The Life was released to some controversy.

Norman has also published biographies of Buddy Holly

Buddy Holly

Charles Hardin Holley , known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll...

, The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...

 and Elton John

Elton John

Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...

. Additionally, Norman has published six works of fiction, and two plays: The Man That Got Away and Words of Love.

Published biographies

• Shout!: The True Story of the Beatles (1981), ISBN 0241103002, ISBN 0241106311
• Symphony for the Devil: The Rolling Stones Story (1984), ISBN 0671449753
• The Life and Good Times of the Rolling Stones (1989), Century
• Days in the life: John Lennon Remembered (1990), ISBN 0712639225
• The Stones (1993, updated w/ a new afterword), Penguin
• Elton or Elton John (1991), ISBN 0091748380 or ISBN 0517587629
• Shout!: The Beatles in their Generation (1996), ISBN 0684830671
• Rave On: The Biography of Buddy Holly or Buddy: The Biography of Buddy Holly (1997), ISBN 0684835606 or ISBN 0330352237
• Sir Elton: The Definitive Biography (2001), ISBN 0786708204
• The Stones: The Acclaimed Biography (2002), ISBN 033048057X
• John Lennon: The Life (2008), ISBN 006075401X