Robert Palmer (singer)
Robert Allen Palmer ( born January 19, 1949 in Batley, England; † 26 September 2003 in Paris ) was a British pop musician.
Life
His parents moved with the three- year-old Robert to Malta, where he spent his childhood. Music by artists such as Nat King Cole, Otis Redding exerted a major influence on his musical career.
In England, Palmer came as a singer of various bands to regional prominence. Among other things, he was successful at this time with the band Vinegar Joe, in which he acted alongside Elkie Brooks as the lead singer. After the dissolution of Vinegar Joe, the two artists began their solo careers.
Robert Palmer concluded with Iceland Records from a first recording contract. His debut Sneakin ' Sally Through the Alley in 1975, however, only impressed the critics and was a commercial failure. Also the following album Pressure Drop ( composed of Motown bassist James Jamerson and a large part of the band Little Feat ) sold only moderately. Therefore Palmer in 1976 changed the musical direction for the album Some People Can Do What They Like and mixed rock with reggae. This slowly began commercial success. With the album Double Fun and the resulting coupled- Single Every Kinda People he succeeded in 1978, the breakthrough. The song and the first single Bad Case of Loving You from the follow-up album Secrets were both Top 20 hits in the U.S. charts.
In the years 1980 and 1981 Palmer then had his greatest successes on the European continent. The song Johnny and Mary was a top 10 hit in the German speaking countries and nine months in the German charts. It is one of Germany's best-known songs of the British, even though it was hardly noticed in his homeland and in the United States noted. The album and the second single Clues Looking for Clues also reached the Top 10
End of 1984, Palmer along with John Taylor and Andy Taylor of the band Duran Duran and Tony Thompson of Chic, the band Power Station, in the spring and summer of 1985 had a few hits with the titles Some Like It Hot, Get It On or Communication. The tape was produced by Chic bassist Bernard Edwards and Mastermind.
Palmer had his biggest hit in the spring of 1986, when his song Addicted to Love it as only one of its singles managed to the top of the Billboard Hot 100, there able to keep three weeks and 1987 he even earned a Grammy. In this video you can see Palmer with a band of five models in black mini skirts that were deliberately selected so that they could not credibly pretend to play their instruments. Originally, the high passages of the song by Chaka Khan should have been sung, but which was not possible due to differences with her record company. The associated album Riptide sold in the U.S. alone over 2 million times. I Did not Mean to Turn You On was another big hit from the album.
Two years later, the album Heavy Nova appeared. Palmer won another Grammy for his song Simply Irresistible and with this album and the next Addictions Volume 1, his first best-of album, he had two more million-seller in the United States.
1987 Palmer moved to Lugano in Switzerland. From 1990, he was again successful in Europe. Together with the reggae band UB40 he had the Europe-wide hit I'll Be Your Baby Tonight. His song Life in Detail part of the soundtrack of the hit film Pretty Woman. In 1991 he had a medley of the hits and Mercy Mercy Me I Want You by Marvin Gaye his last major international hit.
In May 2003, Palmer released his latest album Drive, which included a collection of blues interpretations.
Palmer died on 26 September 2003 at the age of 54 in a Paris hotel from a heart attack. He left behind two adult children, Jim and Jane.
Discography
Singles
Albums
More Albums
Awards
Grammy Award for Best Male Vocal Performance - Rock ( Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male):
RSH Gold
Swell
Chart literature:
- Joel Whitburn 's Top Pop Singles 1955-2006. Billboard Books, New York 2007, ISBN 0-89820-172-1 / The Billboard Album by Joel Whitburn, 6th Edition, Record Research 2006 ISBN 0-89820-166-7 < / ref >
- British Hit Singles & Albums, 18th Edition, Guinness World Records Limited, 2005 ISBN 9781904994008 / Hit Singles Volume 2 - Complete UK Chart Data from 1952 to 2010, Virgin Books, 2010 ISBN 9780753522455