Norman Greenbaum

Calling Norman Greenbaum a one-hit wonder always feels like a backhanded compliment to me. Yes, his fame rests almost entirely on 1969's Spirit in the Sky, but what a hit to be remembered by. That fuzzed-out guitar riff still surfaces in films and ads decades later, and it lands every single time. I find it wonderfully ironic that a Jewish songwriter from Malden penned one of pop's most enduring gospel-flavored anthems. Honestly, writing one song the whole world still sings half a century on is an achievement most artists would trade their entire catalog for. I respect that singular bullseye.

Name (English)

Norman Greenbaum

Name (Japanese)

ノーマン・グリーンバウム

Reading

のーまん・ぐりーんばうむ

Born

November 20, 1942 (age 83)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Scorpio / Horse

Origin

Malden, Massachusetts, United States

Occupation

singer / songwriter / singer-songwriter / recording artist / composer

University

Boston University College of Fine Arts

Motto

Private

• Official sitehttp://www.spiritinthesky.com
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%8E%E3%83%BC%E3%83%9E%E3%83%B3%E3%83%BB%E3%82%B0%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC%E3%83%B3%E3%83%90%E3%82%A6%E3%83%A0

Tags

• Massachusetts
• singer
• songwriter
• singer-songwriter

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.