Uncrowned Community Builders

Eric Norwood was a highly regarded professional musician. A guitarist, he studied at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Howard University in Washington, DC, and at the University at Buffalo. He toured the US and Canada with several bands and performers for a number of years including the Spinners, a popular recording group in the mid-1980s.

He also traveled the college circuit with Doug Gaston, a Buffalo pianist. Between tours he taught guitar, music theory, and coached other musicians in performance skills. In the Buffalo area he appeared with jazz pianist Al Tinney, Rodney Appleby and others. He had been working on a recording of his own works that featured numerous Buffalo artists and had planned to begin a production company to help young performers develop their musical skills. He had worked with Rodney Appleby on a musical production at the Calumet Arts CafÃ?© of an original work entitled "Games".

Eric Norwood was 43 years of age at the time of his death on March 9, 1996. He was buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery.