Norman Sheffield

Norman Sheffield (25 September 1939 - 20 June 2014) was a music and advertising industry figure, most noted for his music industry recording and management roles, ownership of the former Trident Studios, and being the original manager of the rock band Queen.

Sheffield was born in Enfield, the son of Walter Sheffield, a panel beater. He was educated at Albany Boys School.

He enjoyed moderate chart success as a drummer in The Hunters, as well as starring as the drummer with Cliff Richard in a television performance at the London Palladium in 1958. More recently, one of The Hunters' biggest hits, "Teen Scene", featured on the soundtrack to the 2009 movie An Education.

Sheffield later started a record shop with his wife, in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, converting the upstairs into a recording studio which proved popular with local musicians wanting to record their own music. When the shop was sold while he searched for larger premises in London, much of the original equipment was purchased by the future founder of Island Records.

Sheffield went on to launch Trident Studios in 1968 with his brother Barry, turning a disused engraving works in St Anne's Court, in the Soho area of London, into one of the leading recording studios in the world. A number of the best-known artists of the time used it, and recordings made there include the Beatles' "Hey Jude", David Bowie's "Space Oddity" and Elton John's "Candle in the Wind".

Between 1972 and 1975, Sheffield, under one of his companies within the Trident Group, was the manager of British rock group Queen, as well as other acts. Trident invested heavily in the band, formerly known as Smile, when its members were still students, and played a major role in breaking them into the mainstream, eventually finding them a recording contract with EMI Records.

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