He came to prominence in the late 1970s, during the punk and new wave era of rock music as the bass player for Ian Dury and the Blockheads.

Norman left high school at the age of 15, and briefly studied art at Harlow Technical College, and then moved back to London.

[4] This led to the release, in February 1970, of the single "Real Cool World", which was a hit in Europe, reaching number-one in Switzerland.

[4] The quartet released two albums, Glencoe, and The Spirit of Glencoe, along with three singles, and four recorded John Peel radio sessions before breaking up, and in 1974 they got together with keyboardist Mick Gallagher to form the nucleus of a band which, with the addition of drummer Charlie Charles, would become Loving Awareness (managed by Radio Caroline guru Ronan O'Rahilly).

[5] During the 1970s and 1980s, Watt-Roy did session work, appearing on albums such as Nick Lowe's Jesus of Cool, Rachel Sweet's Fool Around and Jona Lewie's single "You'll Always Find Me in the Kitchen at Parties".

[citation needed] In 1983, Watt-Roy provided basslines for the Frankie Goes to Hollywood single "Relax" during a session which included Blockheads John Turnbull, Mick Gallagher and Charlie Charles.

[9] The album had one minor hit single, "Walking in My Sleep", which featured Watt-Roy and Ian Dury in its music video.

He also worked with the ex-producer of Depeche Mode, who had recorded him jamming with drummer Steve Monti meaning to sample the results.