Robert Palmer
Robert Palmer was born in Batley, Yorkshire in 1949 but spent his
childhood on a Naval base in Malta, where he listened to the
records requested by American servicemen on Forces Radio. After
such early exposure to Billie
Holiday and Nat King Cole,
when the family returned to England in the late 50s, Cliff
and The Shadows held no attraction.
But the arrival of Otis Redding, Marvin
Gaye and Wilson Pickett
in the 60s revived his musical interest. Palmer joined The Alan
Brown Set at the age of 19, moving on to jazz-rockers Dada and,
finally, Vinegar Joe, with whom he recorded three albums of
blues-rock notable for his powerful vocal duets with Elkie
Brooks. But when record sales failed to match their live
popularity, both singers embarked on solo careers.
He signed to Island in 1974, commencing a series of solo albums
which fused R&B with blue-eyed soul. His superb debut, Sneakin'
Sally Through The Alley, was released in 1974, and he
probably never bettered it. Recorded in New Orleans with The
Meters and Lowell George, it was a record that put him up there
with Stevie Winwood as an authentic articulator of white R&B.
The follow up, 1975's Pressure Drop, added the reggae
of the Toots-written title
track to the white-hot soul that found him backed by Little
Feat, while Barry White's
arranger, Gene Page, added glorious strings to tracks such as Give
Me An Inch.
Further albums Some People Can Do What They Like and Double
Fun followed in a similar vein. Success was a long time
coming, but in 1979 he finally cracked it with Bad Case Of
Loving You. Then came the 1980s - a decade that unnerved
Palmer as it did so many of his vintage. To his irritation, he
became as famous for his suits and matinee idol image as his
music.
His biggest selling album, Riptide (1985), was
propelled by the single Addicted To Love and its Terence
Donovan-directed video which depicted Palmer as a suave lady
killer surrounded by a band of scantily-clad models.
Into the 90s Palmer recorded a decent cover of Dylan's I'll
Be Your Baby Tonight, made an album of big band standards
long before Rod Stewart and Robbie
Williams stole the idea, and released Drive, a
tribute to the blues music that originally inspired him.
Palmer's innate sense of style could never disguise the fact
that he possessed one of the finest soul voices, deployed to
brilliant effect early in his solo career when he recorded some of
the most joyously rhythmic white funk any British artists ever
produced.
Given his disastrous diversions into world music and Power
Station (formed with Duran Duran's
John and Andy Taylor and Chic drummer Tony
Thompson), the world needs reminding that Palmer had a terrific
white soul voice and made some splendid singles.
His ultimate demise (he suffered a heart attack in Paris on 26
September 2003) robbed the world of a golden-voiced, work-shy fop.
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