Norman Harris (businessman)
{{Short description|American vintage guitar dealer}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Norman Harris
| image = Norman Harris.jpg
| caption = Norman Harris (2024)
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1949|01|20|mf=y}}
| birth_place =
| death_date =
| death_place =
| education =
| occupation = {{Flatlist|
| years_active = 1965–present
}}
Norman Harris (born 1949) is an American vintage guitar dealer, and he operates a store called Norman's Rare Guitars in Tarzana, California. He is one of the guitar industry's foremost experts on vintage guitars.{{cite web |title=Norman Harris |url=https://www.namm.org/library/oral-history/norman-harris |website=NAMM |publisher=NAAM |accessdate=September 1, 2019}} His store has become a destination and he has become a celebrity through his Youtube channel which has more than 500,000 subscribers. He is also the author of two books about vintage guitars.
Career
File:Norman's Rare Guitars.jpg
In the 1960s Harris was a Hammond Organ player who played in bands touring in the Miami, Florida area. In the 1970s Harris was playing in a band with Bobby Caldwell called Katmandu, and the band toured in Los Angeles. While playing with the band Harris purchased a vintage Fender Jazz Bass. Soon other musicians loved the Jazz bass and offered Harris much more money than he paid for the guitar. Harris decided to supplement his income by selling vintage guitars.{{cite web |last1=Molenda |first1=Michael |title=Vintage King: Norman Harris of Norman's Rare Guitars |url=https://www.guitarplayer.com/players/vintage-king-norman-harris-of-normans-rare-guitars |website=guitarplayer |publisher=Future Publishing Limited |accessdate=September 1, 2019}}
Harris saw the value of selling vintage guitars and in 1975 he opened a store in Reseda, California. Harris also rented guitars to be used in the movie industry,{{cite web |last1=VINNICOMBE |first1=CHRIS |title=PRIVATE COLLECTION: NORMAN HARRIS’ RARE GUITARS |url=https://guitar.com/features/private-collection-norman-harris/ |website=Guitar |publisher=Guitar.com |accessdate=September 1, 2019}} including the films Bound for Glory, The Last Waltz, Back to the Future, and This Is Spinal Tap.
Norman's Rare Guitars is frequented by many A-list musicians: Joe Bonamassa, Post Malone, Slash, T-Bone Burnett, Mike Campbell, Richie Sambora, Joe Walsh, and the now deceased Eddie Van Halen and Tom Petty.{{cite web |last1=Gill |first1=Chris |title=California Man: A Visit with Norman Harris of Norman’s Rare Guitars |url=https://www.guitarplayer.com/guitaraficionado/california-man-interview-with-norman-harris-of-normans-rare-guitars |website=guitarplayer |accessdate=September 1, 2019 |ref=Future Publishing Limited}}
Norman Harris is also active in a charity called the Midnight Mission.{{cite web |last1=Parker |first1=Matt |title=Want to buy Tom Petty's 1965 Gibson SG? That'll be $300,000 |url=https://www.musicradar.com/news/want-to-buy-tom-pettys-1965-gibson-sg-thatll-be-dollar300000 |work=MusicRadar |accessdate=September 2, 2019}}{{cite news |title=Norman's Rare Guitars Auctions Off Iconic Tom Petty Guitars And Memorabilia |url=https://www.looktothestars.org/news/18110-normans-rare-guitars-auctions-off-iconic-tom-petty-guitars-and-memorabilia |accessdate=September 2, 2019 |publisher=Look to the Stars |date=July 13, 2018}}
Social media
The store has 300,000 subscribers on both Instagram and YouTube, and 80,000 on Facebook.{{cite news |last1=VARIAN |first1=ETHAN |title=Norman's Rare Guitars in Tarzana rides a social media wave as six-string market shifts |url=https://www.dailynews.com/2019/06/02/classic-tarzana-guitar-shop-finds-new-life-online-as-guitar-market-shifts/ |accessdate=September 1, 2019 |agency=Los Angeles Daily News |date=June 3, 2019}}
Harris recently started the All Guitar Network. It is an Application that features guitar lessons, reviews and shows with artists.
=Books=
- Norman's Rare Guitars: 30 Years of Buying, Selling and Collecting (1999){{cite book |last1=Harris |first1=Norman |title=Norman's Rare Guitars: 30 Years of Buying, Selling and Collecting |date=May 1, 2004 |publisher=Alfred Music |location=Van Nuys, California |isbn=978-0966921915}}
- Confessions of a Vintage Guitar Dealer: The Memoirs Of Norman Harris (2016){{cite book |last1=Harris |first1=Norman |title=CLOSER LOOK CONFESSIONS OF A VINTAGE GUITAR DEALER The Memoirs of Norman Harris |date=2016 |publisher=Hal Leonard |location=Milwaukee, Wisconsin |isbn=9781495035111}}{{cite web |last1=BAUR |first1=BERNARD |title=INDUSTRY PROFILE: NORMAN HARRIS: THE STORIES THAT GUITARS CAN TELL |url=https://www.musicconnection.com/industry-profile-norman-harris/ |website=musicconnection |publisher=Music Connection Magazine |accessdate=September 1, 2019}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{commonscat|Norman Harris}}
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=17&v=m6YTge3JxiI Video Norman Harris]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Norman}}
Category:American businesspeople
Category:American male guitarists