Bio  

Few people face death in the eye multiple times and live to talk about it, as singer/songwriter Jadi Norris has. A drunk driver nearly claimed his life resulting in countless back surgeries and a body pieced together with 22 titanium screws, plates, and rods. But nothing compares to the dark day in a Jacksonville hotel. While showering, he slipped and fell-hitting a soap dish. The broken dish peeled his right forearm from wrist to elbow, cutting arteries, tendons and major nerves. Twenty minutes passed as he lay bleeding to death, losing more than half his blood. Jadi: “At one point, I laid down on the bed and thought ‘okay, God this is it. I’m tired.’ Just when I had given up, the door flew open.” The damage to Jadi’s right arm was so severe he was told by doctors that he’d never play guitar again. Undaunted, he hired a guitar player and kept entertaining. For the next three years, through tenacious determination and despite the paralysis, he re-taught himself to play guitar using duct tape, wood splints, casts, whatever he could use to hold a pick. In 2000, he was involved a vicious car accident that broke his back and neck, resulting in numerous spinal surgeries and fusions. Once again, Jadi dusted himself off and “got back on his horse”. Norris grew up playing and singing, influenced by his guitar playing/gospel singing grandmother. Born in a small textile town in North Carolina, he later moved to Texas. Jadi (rhymes with “shady”) spent high school singing Marshall Tucker, Alabama, Skynyrd, and songwriting. By 17, he was approached by an agent and was on the road 50 weeks a year honing his craft and marrying his hillbilly, Appalachian roots with country rock and gospel. His influences are as far flung as Willie Nelson, Prince, and the Faces. Jadi has performed throughout the US, Canada, and even into Alaska opening for Trace Adkins, Clay Walker, Toby Keith, Jason Aldean, Keith Urban and dozens of otther major acts. In 2010, Jadi released “MAKE HAY”, a showcase CD that included eleven of his own songs. He made the Music Row charts and had two top ten singles on the New Music Weekly charts-”Workin’ Man’s Saturday Night” and “Home is where the Heart Is”. “Make Hay” received four stars from numerous major music publications; including thumbs up reviews from Music Row magazine. He’s cheated death twice, re-learned how to play guitar brilliantly He manages to balance being a good dad and husband with living his dream. To see him, you’d never know of his trials-his on-stage energy, smile, and performances are exciting and spectacular. Get to know Jadi Norris.