Norman Connors - You Are My Starship

Norman Connors - You Are My Starship (1976)

Taken form his 1976 album "You Are My Starship" with vocal by Michael Henderson

Like Roy Ayers, George Benson and Patrice Rushen, Norman Connors is best known for his major R & B hits but started out as a jazz improviser.

The drummer / composer was born and raised in Philadelphia, where he lived in the same neighborhood as Bill Cosby. Connors became interested in jazz as a child, and began playing drums early, once sitting in for Elvin Jones at a John Coltrane performance he attended while in middle school. Connors studied music at Temple University and Juilliard; his first recording was on Archie Shepp's 1967 release, Magic of JuJu. He played with Pharaoh Sanders for the next few years until signing with Cobblestone Records in 1972 and releasing his first record as a bandleader. In the mid-1970s, Connors began focusing more on R&B tunes, and had several US hits with songs featuring vocalists such as Michael Henderson, Jean Carne, and Phyllis Hyman. The most successful of these was "You Are My Starship". His more recent work has seen him operating more in the vein of smooth jazz and urban crossover music.

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