His grandfather was a vaudeville actor, his aunt a burlesque circuit pianist, and his brother Larry Norman had a national Top 20 Hit record with the San Jose-based rock band People!
His band The Merchants of Venus signed a record deal with Warner Music in 1994 and Normal produced and engineered their album Wish Across The Land,[4] which was nominated for the Spellemannprisen in the Rock category the following year.
Normal took part in the recording sessions for what would eventually become the Chinese Democracy album, but after several months of rehearsing with the rapidly dissolving line-up of Guns N' Roses, he moved back to Norway to form a band of his own.
Creative differences between Normal and Ironworks producer Jude Cole led to the band's departure from the label and the recording of their self-produced album, Alligator.
In 2012, Normal signed with Los Angeles based independent label SideOneDummy Records with his latest incarnation, the self-described "audioarcheological" solo project Thriftstore Masterpiece.