Contemporary Musicians
         December 1989 , Volume: 2
         by Anne Janette Johnson

         Personal Information
         Born January 19, 1949, in Batley, Yorkshire, England; son of a Royal Navy
         officer; married ca. 1970, wife's name Sue; children: James, Jane.

         Career
         Rock singer-songwriter, 1965-. Has performed solo and with numerous groups
         in Great Britain and the United States, including the Mandrakes, the Alan Bown
         Band, Dada, and Vinegar Joe. With John Taylor and Andy Taylor, member of
         group Power Station, 1985-86.

         Career
         Signed with Island Records (Great Britain), ca. 1973; had first hit album and
         single, Sneakin' Sally through the Alley, 1974. Signed with EMI Records,
         1988.

         Addresses
         Other-- 2-A Chelsea Manor, Blood St., London SW3, England.

         Robert Palmer hovered on the brink of superstardom for more than a dozen
         years until a spirited rock and roll single, "Addicted to Love," pushed him to the
         top in 1986. Since then the handsome and well-groomed Palmer has become a
         favorite with rock's maturing audience. In Gentleman's Quarterly, Greg Collins
         observes that even though Palmer's biggest hits are hard-rocking numbers like
         "Bad Case of Lovin' You (Doctor, Doctor)" and "Simply Irresistible," a "more
         restrained sensibility is what Robert Palmer has to offer rock music. ... [He is]
         not your basic mainstream material."

         Known for his elegant designer suits and his preference for fine food and wines,
         Palmer is also an experimental musician who has been among the first to
         experiment with reggae, electronic sound, and international folk music motifs.
         Still, the singer told People magazine, he is savoring his first real taste of the pop
         music spotlight. "I'm not somebody who started in a garage six months ago and
         MTV put me up there," he said, referring to his decade-long British solo career.
         "This is much more delicious. It almost feels like I'm getting away with
         something. It's all fallen into place perfectly, a nice accident."

         The son of a British naval officer, Palmer moved frequently in his youth,
         spending time in such exotic locales as Malta, Naples, and Cyprus. He
         described himself in Gentleman's Quarterly as a lonely child who "hung out
         mostly with adults" and who never saw a movie or a television until he was
         twelve. In Rolling Stone, he claimed that he received his only musical
         training--in guitar--from a "little old lady who burned a paraffin stove." Most of
         his musical influences came from American records, especially the rhythm and
         blues work of Lena Horne and Nat King Cole. At fifteen Palmer joined his first
         band, providing guitar and vocals, but it was many years before he decided to
         be a professional musician. In the meantime he studied graphic design and
         immersed himself in the many exotic forms of music that would someday enter
         into his songwriting work.

         During his early twenties, Palmer drifted through a number of locally renowned
         British rock groups, including Dada, Vinegar Joe, and the Alan Bown Band. In
         those days, writes Collins, Palmer would "open for Jimi Hendrix and the Who
         and whoever else was big and touring England at the time. Palmer, however,
         did not approve even then of the rock life-style." Palmer admitted as much. "I
         loved the music, but the excesses of rock and roll never really appealed to me
         at all," he said. "I couldn't see the point of getting up in front of a lot of people
         when you weren't in control of your wits." Even then Palmer dressed well and
         performed with a certain restraint. "I'm not concerned that my stuff isn't
         extreme," he told Rolling Stone. "I don't want to be heavy. I can't think of
         another attitude to have toward an audience than a hopeful and a positive one.
         And if that includes such unfashionable things as sentimentality, well, I can afford
         it."

         Palmer signed a solo contract with Island Records, a British company, in the
         mid-1970s. He then cut a string of albums that were "critically celebrated but
         commercially lackluster," to quote Steven Dougherty in People. His 1974
         record, Sneakin' Sally through the Alley, was a modest success, as was his
         1978 effort, Every Kinda People. The small Island label gave Palmer great
         experimental leeway, and, according to Collins, "he taught himself to play
         different instruments and built an electronically sophisticated home studio.
         Palmer was into synthesizers before anyone else in the pop field." David Fricke
         notes in Rolling Stone, however, that Palmer's albums cast him "as a lesser
         white soul brother to Boz Scaggs and Hall and Oates--slick urban R&B in one
         more three piece suit."

         Palmer had slipped into relative obscurity by 1984, and he was working on a
         new album when he was contacted by John Taylor and Andy Taylor of the
         group Duran Duran. They asked Palmer to write and perform a few songs for
         an ad hoc group called Power Station--a sort of project-between-projects.
         Everyone involved was surprised when Power Station placed three songs in the
         American top ten and produced an album that sold better than had any of
         Palmer's solo efforts. Palmer was never tempted to make Power Station his
         permanent band, however. In a brave leap of faith, he went back to work on his
         solo album, Riptide, releasing it in 1986.

         The gamble paid off. Riptide became Palmer's first number one-selling album,
         and "Addicted to Love," with its sexually charged music video, topped the
         charts for several weeks. Then Palmer decided to challenge his success even
         further. His next album, Heavy Nova, joined an incongruous variety of
         influences, from hard rock to 1940s torch songs to a bossa nova instrumental.
         Heavy Nova was another platinum success, and its best-known single, "Simply
         Irresistible," was one of the biggest hits of the summer of 1988.

         Having finally tapped into the American market, Palmer signed with EMI
         Records in 1988 and appeared in a popular Pepsi Cola commercial singing
         "Simply Irresistible" in 1989. Collins suggests, though, that the limelight may not
         change Palmer's desire to experiment, as it has not changed his drug-free,
         retiring life-style. "A baritone who can also sing tenor and falsetto, [Palmer] has
         incredible range, allowing him to sing in almost any style he chooses," writes
         Collins. "He knows full well that his rock and roll does well in America. But then
         there's all this new stuff running around in his head that he really likes." Collins
         concludes: "But the star machine is revving up. Robert Palmer's days of
         quietude may be numbered."

         Selected Discography
         Sneakin' Sally through the Alley, Island, 1974. Pressure Drop, Island, 1975.
         Some People Can Do What They Like, Island, 1976. Double Fun, Island,
         1978. Secrets, Island, 1979. Pride, Island, 1983. Riptide, Island, 1986.
         Heavy Nova, EMI, 1988.

         Sources
         Gentleman's Quarterly, July, 1988. Glamour, July, 1988. People, June 9,
         1986. Rolling Stone, October 18, 1979; June 5, 1986.

         ~~ Anne Janette Johnson