Norman John Clayton

Norman John Clayton was an American gospel songwriter, composer, organist, editor, and publisher whose work belongs to the mid-twentieth-century evangelical gospel-song tradition. Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1903, he grew up in the South Brooklyn Gospel Church, where his mother was among the founding members of the Baptist congregation. Hymnological sources report that he began serving as a church organist while still a boy and remained active as an organist throughout his life. Although his principal employment included work in the building trades, music and Christian ministry remained major parts of his vocation.

In the early 1940s Clayton became associated with Jack Wyrtzen's Word of Life rallies in New York. Over roughly fifteen years he served in musical and ministry roles that included organist, vibraphonist, inquiry-room director, and radio evangelist. He later established his own publishing operation and issued numerous gospel-song collections before his company was acquired by the Rodeheaver organization, after which he continued as a writer and editor.

Clayton wrote both texts and tunes, and Hymnary catalogs more than one hundred texts and many melodies under his name. Representative songs include “My Hope Is in the Lord,” “He Holds My Hand,” and “Now I Belong to Jesus.” His work is characterized by direct evangelical testimony, frequent biblical grounding, and melodies designed for accessible congregational or revival-style singing. He died in Carmel, New York, in 1992.