Transition: From Norman Iceberg To Norman Bedard
In the early-90s, American music industry executives strongly advised him to change his name in order to avoid any confusion with new rap artists Ice-T, Ice Cube and Vanilla Ice. However, with a strong gay following, Norman decided to keep using his stage name, performing notably at the 1992 Los Angeles Gay Pride, the notorious Whisky A Go-Go, as well as Prince’s Glam Slam, backed by dancers Viktor Manoel (David Bowie’s Glass Spider tour), Luca Tommassini and Carrie Ann Inaba (Madonna’s Girlie Show tour). He also performed acoustic sets with American actor Robert Consoli on guitar.
Ending a series of concerts with a five-piece rock band at The Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles, Norman’s actual last appearance under the name Norman Iceberg was on the Syndicated TV Show Sheena Metal's Freakin' Rock Review in 1993. He also recorded as Norman Joseph in 1994 before deciding to come back to Norman Bedard, his birth last name.
Committed to his craft, and now on his own, Norman Bedard continued writing songs, working with collaborators such as Kevin Komoda (Rational Youth, Sarah McLachlan), and self-produced several pre-prod albums not available commercially, which revealed a more subdued side. Norman’s newer material recorded in various studios, offered the sound of a simple and mature man embracing life. With his goal of easing our souls, he termed his new music “zen pop”.
In November 2007, Norman announced via his website that a brand new album scheduled for release in 2008 was in the works. The album was confirmed to be titled Vital on March 9, 2009, with a release date set for Spring 2009. Vital, and a remastered version of We Act were both released simultaneously on July 15, 2009. Wonderful was the first single from the album Vital, released on March 2, 2010. Also released on the same date was Norman Iceberg's Crawl (Alternate Version), originally recorded in the 1990s at Men Without Hats’ home studio.
On June 1, 2010, Norman released the second single from his Vital album, A Day With My Self, described by Richard Morris of Pink Paper as a "folky ditty". It was followed with the release of Norman Iceberg's 1+1=2, also recorded in the 1990s at Men Without Hats’ home studio and newly remastered in 2010. The following single, Thank You, was released on October 4, 2010. Next, Norman gave us Sleepytime, then Space, released on February 8, 2011. Writer Jack Foley of IndieLondon called Space a "chilled pop record" and "the sort of offering that has an instant catchy appeal to it".
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