From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

Related e

Wikipedia Wiktionary Shop Featured: Rhombicuboctahedron by Leonardo da Vinci

Norman Greenbaum (born on November 20, 1942 in Malden, Massachusetts) is a singer-songwriter. He studied music at Boston University. Greenbaum is best known for his song "Spirit in the Sky", which sold two million copies in 1969 and 1970. The song, with its combination of 'heavy' guitar, hand-clapping, and spiritual lyrics, was a one-hit wonder. The song has been used in many films, advertisements and television shows.

Greenbaum is notable for the rare achievement of having recorded two one-hit wonders. In 1968, under the name Dr. West's Medicine Show and Junk Band, he recorded the novelty hit "The Eggplant that Ate Chicago".

Another group, Doctor and the Medics, became a one-hit wonder of sorts with their version of "Spirit in the Sky" in 1986 (they had a minor hit with the follow-up "Burn", and a hit album "Laughing At The Pieces"), and British television stars The Kumars also became one-hit wonders in the UK, when they reached No. 1 with Gareth Gates with the same song in 2003.

Interestingly, although his one hit "Spirit in the Sky" is considered by many to be a Jesus rock song with a heavily Christian theme, Greenbaum was and still is a practicing Jew. He was inspired to write the song after observing a preacher on television.

Greenbaum lives in Petaluma, California. He no longer performs in public, but continues to promote concerts and lives off the royalties from his songs.