Norman Joel Greenbaum (born November 20, 1942) is an American singer-songwriter, known for his 1969–1970 hit song "Spirit in the Sky".
[4] In the late 1960s, Norman Greenbaum was the leader and composer for Dr. West's Medicine Show and Junk Band, which recorded the novelty hit "The Eggplant That Ate Chicago".
Greenbaum went solo as a folk artist and submitted an original song, "Spirit in the Sky", to Reprise Records.
Reprise handed Greenbaum to staff producer Erik Jacobsen, who radically rearranged the song for a new recording session.
The updated version now had pulsing electric guitar, gospel-styled backup singers, and an insistent rhythm accompanying Greenbaum, whose vocal was now double-tracked.
His televised appearance on Dick Clark's American Bandstand compelled the singer to synchronize his performance to a playback of the hit record.
[citation needed] After the release in 1972 of his album Petaluma (named after his hometown in California), Greenbaum left the music business and returned to his dairy farm.