Norman was born in
Birmingham,
Alabama. During her adolescence in Birmingham at Phillips High School, and later at
Birmingham–Southern College, it became apparent that she was a gifted
soprano with a four-octave range. Initially, she wanted to pursue opera, but she decided to move to New York to try for a career as a radio singer. Her beauty led to modeling jobs and, in 1936, she joined The Rhythm Singers on
Kay Thompson’s Chesterfield Program. She married naval pilot Norman Price and eventually moved to Los Angeles where they raised four children. In 1940, Norman was selected as the summer replacement for
Dinah Shore on the NBC radio program
The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street. Norman became a member of the successful singing group,
The Campus Kids, who worked with
Kay Kyser. Another member of the group was
Judd Conlon and he formed a new group called
The Rhythmaires which began as backing singers on
Bing Crosby’s
Philco show. Crosby singled Norman out several times on radio for solo passages which required an obbligato. She was once introduced by him as "The Lorelei from Birmingham, Alabama" and another time as "The Hartz Mountain Canary." A favorite standard of Crosby's,
Whispering Hope, was reprised on his
Chesterfield show with his brother
Bob Crosby, and Norman was given the role of performing their sister Catherine’s part. Norman appeared as a member of
The Mel-Tones on
Mel Torme’s recording of
California Suite, and many popular arrangers and conductors used her on their albums. She recorded with
Sam Cooke and provided the voice of The Future on
Frank Sinatra's
Trilogy album. Norman contributed to several films:
The Big Hangover,
Dream Wife,
G.I. Blues,
Blue Hawaii (in which she sang with
Elvis Presley on
Moonlight Swim),
Too Late Blues, and
A Boy Named Charlie Brown.
Jerry Lewis secured her for the role of the Princess for the cast of the soundtrack album of
Cinderfella. Her television credits included frequent appearances on
The Dinah Shore Show,
The Dean Martin Show, and
The Carol Burnett Show. Norman delivered the
non-lexical vocables over
Alexander Courage's opening
theme song for the first season of
Star Trek. The music was remixed without Norman’s voice for the show’s second and third season so the producers could avoid paying her royalties. ==Other significant singing roles==