Norman Connors, who hales from philidelphia, 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 Carn, 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.

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 and became interested in jazz when he was only a child. As a kid in
elementary school, Connors was exposed to jazz extensively thanks to such schoolmates
as drummer Lex Humphries and the younger brother of bassist and Jazz Messenger-to-be
Spanky De Brest. Connors was in junior high when he began sneaking into jazz clubs and
sat in for Elvin Jones at a John Coltrane gig. At 13, he first got to meet his idol, Miles
Davis, and started expressing his admiration for the famous trumpeter by dressing like him.
Connors went on to study music at Philly's Temple University and the Juilliard School of Music
in New York. Gigs with Jackie McLean, Jack McDuff and Sam Rivers followed, and he was first
recorded as a sideman when Archie Shepp employed him on his 1967 Impulse! session Magic of JuJu.



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