Norman Joseph Bédard (born July 30, 1962), also known by the former stage names Norman Iceberg and Norman Joseph, is a Canadian singer-songwriter.

Early years: Performing as Norman Iceberg

A graphic artist turned performance artist, Norman Bedard emerged from the

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

underground music scene in the early '80s under the name Norman Iceberg. One of a handful of gender-bending new wave artists to come out following the success of artists like

Duran Duran Duran Duran () are an English pop rock band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor (bass guitarist), John Taylor. After several early changes, the band's line-up settled ...

Boy George George Alan O'Dowd (born 14 June 1961), known professionally as Boy George, is an English singer-songwriter and DJ who rose to fame as the lead singer of the pop band Culture Club. He began his solo career in 1987. Boy George grew up in Eltham a ...

and

Gary Numan Gary Anthony James Webb (born 8 March 1958), known professionally as Gary Numan, is an English singer, songwriter and musician. He entered the music industry as frontman of the New wave music, new wave band Tubeway Army. After releasing two st ...

, Bedard was recruited by music producer Tony Green, responsible for

France Joli France Joli (; née Joly; born February 2, 1963) is a Canadian singer, best known for the disco classics " Come to Me" and "Gonna Get Over You". Teen stardom Born France Joly in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Joli grew up in Dorion. Her father wa ...

’s 1979 disco hit "Come To Me". Norman Bedard's experimental, minimal electro sound was therefore remodeled to cater to the dance club scene as evident on his debut, ''Be My Human Tonight'' (

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

). ''

Person(a) ''Person(a)'' is a full-length studio album by Norman Iceberg. Recorded and mixed at Marko Studios in Montreal, it was released in 1987. The musical style of the album is a blend of experimental electronic music and commercial synthpop, and featu ...

'', released in 1987, was a conceptual collection of

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s ...

songs reflecting a young man's own vision of life, and featuring keyboardists such as Lenny Pinkas (

Men Without Hats Men Without Hats are a Canadians, Canadian New wave music, new wave and synth-pop band, originally from Montreal, Quebec. Their music is characterized by the baritone voice of their lead singer Ivan Doroschuk, as well as their elaborate use of s ...

), Mario Spezza (

Rational Youth Rational Youth was a Canadian new wave synth-pop band that was originally active between 1981 and 1986, and at various points up until the end of 2021. History Rational Youth was formed in 1981 in Montreal, Quebec, by synthesizer players Tracy ...

) and Mic Lussier. The cover photograph of him posing nude - pre-dating

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

’s ''

Lovesexy ''Lovesexy'' is the tenth studio album by American recording artist Prince. The album was released on May 10, 1988, by Paisley Park Records and Warner Bros. Records. The album was recorded in just seven weeks, from mid-December 1987 to late Jan ...

'' by several months - stirred up controversy. A few selections taken from ''Person(a)'' were used for

TVA The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolina ...

’s ''Le Match de la Vie'' hosted by

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

author and former politician

Claude Charron Claude Charron (born October 22, 1946, in L'Île-Bizard, Quebec) is a former CEGEP teacher, provincial politician, writer and broadcaster. He became Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and the youngest Member of the National Assembly of Quebec. ...

. On stage, careful attention was paid to set design and visual effects; Bedard would then sometimes only be backed by a pre-recorded soundtrack and live vocalists such as

Claudine Mercier Claudine Mercier (born November 3, 1961) is a Québécoise comedian, singer, actress and impressionist. Mercier began her performing career in the early-80's singing with the a cappella vocal group Artishows for several years, and with Canadian ...

and Louise Litsz, giving them entire freedom to use props and screens, a style made popular by

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

performance artist

Laurie Anderson Laura Phillips "Laurie" Anderson (born June 5, 1947) is an American avant-garde artist, musician and filmmaker whose work encompasses performance art, pop music, and multimedia projects. Initially trained in violin and sculpting,Amirkhanian, Cha ...

. 1988 saw the release of ''Gotta Move''. With its frenetic, energetic beat, 1989’s "Kiss the Beauty" was a favourite for months in night clubs. The title track's music video was directed by filmmaker

Érik Canuel Érik Canuel (January 21, 1961 – June 15, 2024) was a Canadian film and television director from Montreal, Quebec. Canuel, the son of actor Yvan Canuel, began his career in the mid-1980s making music videos for such artists as Paul Piché, ...

. A couple of years later, "We Act" got him a "Best Video" nomination at the

Musique Plus Elle Fictions (stylized ELLE Fictions) is a Canadian French language specialty channel owned by Remstar Media Group. The channel broadcasts general entertainment programming targeting young adult women. It replaced the music television channel Mu ...

(his native

equivalent to

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

) Video Awards.

Transition: From Norman Iceberg to Norman Bedard

In the early '90s, American music industry executives strongly advised him to change his name in order to avoid any confusion with new rap artists

Ice-T Tracy Lauren Marrow (born February 16, 1958), known professionally as Ice-T (or Ice T), is an American rapper and actor. He is active in both hip hop music, hip hop and heavy metal music, heavy metal. Ice-T began his career as an underground r ...

Ice Cube O'Shea Jackson Sr. (born June 15, 1969), known professionally as Ice Cube, is an American rapper, songwriter, actor, and film producer. His lyrics on N.W.A's 1989 album '' Straight Outta Compton'' contributed to gangsta rap's widespread popu ...

and

Vanilla Ice Robert Matthew Van Winkle (born October 31, 1967), known professionally as Vanilla Ice, is an American rapper, actor, and television host. Born in Dallas, raised in Miami, he was the first solo white rapper to achieve commercial success foll ...

. However, with a strong gay following, Bedard decided to keep using his stage name, performing notably at the 1992

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Gay Pride In the context of LGBTQ culture, pride (also known as LGBTQ pride, LGBTQIA pride, LGBT pride, queer pride, gay pride, or gay and lesbian pride) is the promotion of the rights, self-affirmation, dignity, Social equality, equality, and increas ...

, the notorious

Whisky a Go Go The Whisky a Go Go (informally nicknamed The Whisky) is a historic nightclub in West Hollywood, California, United States. It is located at 8901 Sunset Boulevard on the Sunset Strip, corner North Clark Street, opposite North San Vicente Boulev ...

, as well as

’s Glam Slam, backed by dancers Viktor Manoel (from

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

’s 'Glass Spider' tour), Luca Tommassini and

Carrie Ann Inaba Carrie Ann Inaba (born January 5, 1968) is an American television personality, dancer, choreographer, actress, and singer. She is best known for her work on ABC's ''Dancing with the Stars'' for which she has served as a judge since 2005. She co- ...

(from

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...

’s 'Girlie Show' tour). He also performed acoustic sets with American actor

Robert Consoli The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, praise, reno ...

on guitar. Ending a series of concerts with a five-piece rock band at

The Roxy Theatre The Roxy Theatre (often just the Roxy) is a nightclub on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California, owned by Lou Adler and his son, Nic. History The Roxy was opened on September 20, 1973, by Elmer Valentine and Lou Adler, along with ...

in Los Angeles, Bedard’s actual last appearance under the name Norman Iceberg was on the syndicated TV show ''Sheena Metal's Freakin' Rock Review'' in 1993. He also recorded as Norman Joseph in 1994 before deciding to go back to using Norman Bedard, his last birth name. Committed to his craft, and now on his own, Norman Bedard continued writing songs, working with collaborators such as Kevin Komoda (Rational Youth,

Sarah McLachlan Sarah Ann McLachlan (born January 28, 1968) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. As of 2015, she had sold over 40 million albums worldwide. McLachlan's best-selling album to date is ''Surfacing (album), Surfacing'' (1997), for which she won two G ...

), and self-produced several pre-prod albums not available commercially, which revealed a more subdued side. Bedard’s newer material, recorded in various studios, offered the sound of a simple and mature man embracing life. With his goal of easing our souls, he termed his new music "zen pop". In November 2007, Norman announced via his website that a brand new album scheduled for release in 2008 was in the works. The album was confirmed to be titled ''Vital'' on March 9, 2009, with a release date set for Spring 2009. ''Vital'', and a remastered version of ''We Act'' were both released simultaneously on July 15, 2009. "Wonderful" was the first single from ''Vital'', released on March 2, 2010. Also released on the same date was Norman Iceberg's "Crawl" (Alternate Version), originally recorded in the 1990s at

’ home studio. On June 1, 2010, Bedard released the second single from his ''Vital'' album, "A Day With My Self", described by Richard Morris of

Pink Paper The ''Pink Paper'' was a UK publication covering gay and lesbian issues published by Millivres Prowler Limited. Founded in 1987 as a newspaper, it switched to internet-only publication in June 2009. The decision to go online-only was announce ...

as a "folky ditty". It was followed with the release of Norman Iceberg's ''1+1=2'', also recorded in the 1990s at Men Without Hats’ home studio and newly remastered in 2010. The following single, "Thank You", was released on October 4, 2010. Following this, Bedard gave us "Sleepytime". Adrian Cooke, in a review for ''Maverick'', called "Sleepytime" "a pop-flavoured song", saying "this is a gentle lullaby with sensitive vocal assisted by ethereal harmonies. Quality stuff". Norman's next single "Space" was released on February 8, 2011. Writer Jack Foley of ''IndieLondon'' called "Space" a "chilled pop record" and "the sort of offering that has an instant catchy appeal to it"."Music - Singles of the Week - February 21, 2011" (http://www.indielondon.co.uk/Music-sotw/music-singles-of-the-week-monday-february-21-2011), ''IndieLondon''

References

External links

Norman Bedard's official website

Official Norman Bedard MySpace page

Library and Archives Canada/Bibliothèque et Archives Canada

The Quebec Gay Archives/Archives gaies du Québec

Norman Iceberg
discography at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bedard, Norman 1962 births Living people Canadian dance musicians Canadian male singers Canadian new wave musicians Canadian pop singers Canadian gay musicians Gay singers Gay composers Canadian LGBTQ singer-songwriters Canadian LGBTQ composers Gay songwriters Singers from Quebec Musicians from Trois-Rivières Synth-pop new wave musicians 20th-century Canadian LGBTQ people 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people Canadian male singer-songwriters Canadian singer-songwriters