Norton was born in Edmonton, London, but grew up in Margate, Kent, and joined the Royal Army Ordnance Corps (which later amalgamated into the Royal Logistic Corps) as a private in 1983. He reached the rank of warrant officer class 1 and was appointed a conductor, the most senior non-commissioned appointment in the British Army, before being commissioned as a captain on 8 July 2002. He was promoted to major on 31 July 2008. On 1 August 2013, Norton retired from the army on medical grounds.