A week after heart surgery, Patrick Norman is “much better”. The 76-year-old singer even claims not to be afraid of death. “We always have that in the back of our minds, but we have to trust [à la vie]’ he confesses.
• Also read: Patrick Norman was hospitalized for heart surgery
• Also read: Patrick Norman gives encouraging news after his surgery
“For me, death is not the end of something, but a new beginning,” Patrick Norman continues in an interview with the Journal.
Last Tuesday he came to the hospital to have an aortic valve replaced. This isn’t the first time surgery has been required to fix heart problems. The singer had to undergo triple bypass surgery in 2011.
As his recovery nears the end, the ‘When We Are In Love’ performer says he’s in great shape. He will continue his “If we won there” tour on Friday in Jonquière.
“I’m much better, everything is nice, they even told me I was good until I was 150,” he explains with a laugh.
Courtesy of ADISQ / JULIEN FAUGERE
Without taboo
At the end of the line, the singer is obviously not uncomfortable talking about death. Patrick Norman has also witnessed the big departure of some good friends in recent years; we are thinking, among others, of Renée Martel and Julie Daraîche, who died in 2021 and 2022 respectively.
“It reminds us that we’re not here forever,” he says. We tend to live and act as if we are eternal. Many of my relatives do not want to talk about death, but it is necessary to tame it.
Even if he doesn’t fear death, he does fear the possibility of becoming a burden to those around him if a health problem occurs. He is thinking in particular of his wife Nathalie Lord, who is 22 years his junior.
“Above all, I don’t want to become a burden,” he says. But for now we are perfectly happy and want it to last as long as possible. It was unexpected like love. I must have done something good in my life to deserve this.
The latter was also responsible for spreading news about her husband through his social networks during Patrick Norman’s hospitalization last week. According to him, the singer’s admirers were numerous and inquired about his health.
Dominick Gravel/QMI Agency
Always projects
A few days before his return to the stage, Patrick Norman admits he still has a head full of projects. Because even though his current tour, which marks his 50-year career, is his last, he has no plans to stop making music.
His next dream? An instrumental album, a style of music that he particularly likes.
“When I pick up my guitar, I can still think of many beautiful melodies. “I have a lot of pieces that are getting ready,” he says, without giving any further details about the project.
At the end of his show series “If we were there” – the dates of which are planned until 2024 – Patrick Norman will not put a cross on the stage either. It’s more the traveling (an “energy-intensive” exercise, as he puts it) that he wants to get rid of.
“When I go on stage, I’m 150% happy,” says the singer. All problems stay below and I only find them after the show (laughs). The halls are full and I believe this show is unifying. We’re getting closer, it’s soft, it’s warm and deep. I am always enthusiastic about music and curious.