Robert Palmer

The title of this article is ambiguous. Further meanings are listed under Robert Palmer (disambiguation) .

Robert Palmer (1986)

Robert Allen Palmer (born January 19, 1949 in Batley , England , † September 26, 2003 in Paris ) was a British pop musician .

Life

His parents moved to Malta with three-year-old Robert , where he spent his childhood. Music by artists from Nat King Cole to Otis Redding was the main influence on his musical career.

In England, Palmer achieved regional fame as a singer in various bands. With The Alan Bown Set he had his first small hit in the late 1960s. He then joined the band Vinegar Joe , in which he acted as lead singer on the side of Elkie Brooks . After Vinegar Joe broke up, the two artists began their solo careers. Robert Palmer signed his first record deal with Island Records . His debut Sneakin 'Sally Through the Alley in the fall of 1974 only impressed the critics and became a commercial failure. The second album Pressure Drop from autumn 1975 (with the participation of Motown bassist James Jamerson and a large part of the band Little Feat ) only sold moderately. Therefore, for the album Some People Can Do What They Like , Palmer changed the musical direction and mixed rock with reggae. Commercial success slowly began. His breakthrough came in the spring of 1978 with the album Double Fun and the single Every Kinda People that was extracted from it . The song and the first single Bad Case of Loving You from the follow-up album Secrets were both top 20 hits in the US charts in mid-1979 .

In 1980 and 1981, Palmer had his greatest successes on the European continent. The song Johnny and Mary was a top 10 hit in German-speaking countries and nine months in the German charts. It is one of the most famous songs by the Briton in Germany, although it was hardly noticed in his home country or in the USA. The album Clues and the second single Looking for Clues also reached the top 10. At the end of 1984 Palmer formed the band Power Station together with John Taylor and Andy Taylor from the band Duran Duran and Tony Thompson from Chic , which had some hits in the spring and summer of 1985 like Some Like It Hot , Get It On and Communication had. The band was produced by Bernard Edwards .

Palmer had his biggest hit in the spring of 1986, when his song Addicted to Love was the only one of his singles to make it to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 , which stayed there for a week and even earned him a Grammy in 1987 . In the video you can see Palmer with a band of five models in black mini skirts who were deliberately staged in such a way that they did not plausibly pretend they were playing their instruments. Originally the high passages of the song should have been sung by Chaka Khan , but this was not possible due to differences with her record company. The accompanying album Riptide sold over 2 million times in the US alone. I Didn't Mean to Turn You On was a second big hit from the album in the summer of 1986.

The album Heavy Nova was released in mid-1988 . Palmer won another Grammy for his song Simply Irresistible and with this album and the following Addictions Volume 1 , his first best-of album, he had two more million-seller in the US. In 1987 Palmer moved to Lugano , Switzerland . From autumn 1990 he was successful again 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 was part of the soundtrack of the hit film Pretty Woman . In the spring of 1991 he had his last major international hit with a medley of the hits Mercy Mercy Me and I Want You by Marvin Gaye . In May 2003, Palmer released his last album Drive , which included a collection of blues interpretations.

Palmer died of a heart attack on September 26, 2003 at the age of 54 in a Paris hotel . He left two children.

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1974	Sneakin 'Sally Through the Alley	-	-	-	-	US107 (15 weeks) US	First published: September 1974
1975	Pressure drop	-	-	-	-	US136 (8 weeks) US	First published: November 1975
1976	Some People Can Do What They Like	-	-	-	UK46 (1 week) UK	US68 (16 weeks) US	First published: October 1976
1978	Double fun	-	-	-	-	US45 (25 weeks) US	First published: January 1978
1979	Secrets	-	-	-	UK54 (4 weeks) UK	US19 (24 weeks) US	First published: June 1979
1980	Clues	DE6th gold (44 weeks)DE	-	-	UK31 (8 weeks) UK	US59 (17 weeks) US	First published: August 1980
1982	Maybe it's live	-	-	-	UK32 (6 weeks) UK	US148 (5 weeks) US	First published: March 1982 Concert recording from 1980 from the Dominion Theater in London
1983	Pride	DE35 (7 weeks) DE	-	-	UK37 (9 weeks) UK	US112 (19 weeks) US	First published: April 1983
1985	Riptide	-	-	-	UK5 gold (37 weeks)UK	US8th × 2 Double platinum (90 weeks)US	First published: November 1985
1988	Heavy nova	DE50 (4 weeks) DE	-	-	UK17th gold (25 weeks)UK	US13 platinum (44 weeks)US	First published: June 1988
1989	Addictions Volume 1	DE32 (12 weeks) DE	-	-	UK7th platinum (17 weeks)UK	US79 platinum (17 weeks)US	First release: October 1989 Best-of-Album (1978–1988)
1990	Don't explain	DE40 (23 weeks) DE	AT17 (10 weeks) AT	-	UK9 gold (20 weeks)UK	US88 (28 weeks) US	First published: November 1990
1992	Addictions Volume 2	-	-	-	UK12 silver (7 weeks)UK	-	First release: March 1992 best of album
	Ridin 'high	-	-	-	UK32 (3 weeks) UK	US173 (1 week) US	First published: October 1992
1994	Honey	DE76 (5 weeks) DE	-	-	UK25 (4 weeks) UK	-	First published: September 1994
1995	The Very Best of Robert Palmer	DE73 (8 weeks) DE	-	-	UK4th platinum (27 weeks)UK	-	First release: October 1995 best of album
2002	At His Very Best	-	-	-	UK38 gold (6 weeks)UK	-	First release: October 2002 best of album

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

More albums

• 1998: Woke Up Laughing (remix album)
• 1999: Rhythm & Blues
• 2001: Live at the Apollo (live)
• 2003: Drive
• 2003: Johnny & Mary - Best (1974-85, Label: Zounds , all tracks digitally remastered, CD-Text)
• 2006: Gold (Best-of, 2 CD)
• 2006: Best of Robert Palmer - Addicted to Love (2 CD), Universal Music Group, Brunswick News, Print & Copyright 2006 Universal Strategic Marketing
• 2016: 5 classic albums

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1976	Man Smart, Woman Smarter Some People Can Do What They Like	-	-	-	-	US63 (7 weeks) US	First published: October 1976
1978	Every Kinda People Double Fun	-	-	-	UK53 (4 weeks) UK	US16 (18 weeks) US	First published: March 1978
	Best of Both Worlds Double Fun	DE36 (7 weeks) DE	AT25 (4 weeks) AT	-	-	-	First published: July 1978
1979	Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor) Secrets	-	-	-	UK61 (2 weeks) UK	US14 (15 weeks) US	First published: May 1979
	Can We Still Be Friends Secrets	-	-	-	-	US52 (9 weeks) US	First published: November 1979 Original: Todd Rundgren (1978)
	What's It Take Secrets	DE19 (19 weeks) DE	-	-	-	-	First published: November 1979
1980	Johnny and Mary Clues	DE7 (41 weeks) DE	AT10 (16 weeks) AT	CH5 (7 weeks) CH	UK44 (8 weeks) UK	-	First published: August 1980
	Looking for clues clues	DE3 (26 weeks) DE	-	CH6 (6 weeks) CH	UK33 (9 weeks) UK	-	First published: November 1980
1982	Some Guys Have All the Luck Maybe It's Live	DE52 (5 weeks) DE	-	-	UK16 (8 weeks) UK	-	First published: January 1982
1983	You Are in My System	DE52 (12 weeks) DE	-	-	UK53 (6 weeks) UK	US78 (6 weeks) US	First published: March 1983
	You Can Have It (Take My Heart)	-	-	-	UK66 (5 weeks) UK	-	First published: June 1983
1985	Discipline of Love (Why Did You Do It) Riptide	-	-	-	UK68 (3 weeks) UK	US82 (5 weeks) US	First published: October 1985
1986	Addicted to Love Riptide	-	-	-	UK5 silver (16 weeks)UK	US1 gold (22 weeks)US	First published: January 1986 Grammy 1987
	Hyperactive Riptide	-	-	-	-	US33 (12 weeks) US	First published: May 1986
	I Didn't Mean to Turn You On Riptide	-	-	-	UK9 (9 weeks) UK	US2 (22 weeks) US	First published: July 1986
1988	Sweet Lies	-	-	-	UK58 (4 weeks) UK	US94 (2 weeks) US	First published: March 1988 from the movie Sweet Lies
	Simply Irresistible Heavy Nova	DE57 (5 weeks) DE	-	-	UK44 (4 weeks) UK	US2 (20 weeks) US	First published: June 1988 Grammy 1989
	She Makes My Day Heavy Nova	-	-	-	UK6 (13 weeks) UK	-	First published: October 1988
	Early in the Morning Heavy Nova	-	-	-	-	US19 (15 weeks) US	First published: October 1988
1989	Change His Ways Heavy Nova	DE62 (4 weeks) DE	-	-	UK28 (7 weeks) UK	-	First published: March 1989
	Tell Me I'm Not Dreaming Heavy Nova	-	-	-	-	US60 (8 weeks) US	First published: June 1989 Original: Jermaine & Michael Jackson (1984)
	It Could Happen to You Heavy Nova	-	-	-	UK71 (2 weeks) UK	-	First published: August 1989
1990	I'll Be Your Baby Tonight Don't Explain	DE14 (30 weeks) DE	AT5 (15 weeks) AT	CH5 (19 weeks) CH	UK6 (13 weeks) UK	-	First published: October 1990 with UB40
	You're Amazing Don't Explain	-	-	-	-	US28 (13 weeks) US	First published: November 1990
1991	Mercy Mercy Me / I Want You Don't Explain	DE33 (17 weeks) DE	AT18 (12 weeks) AT	-	UK9 (9 weeks) UK	US16 (17 weeks) US	First published: December 1990 Medley of two Marvin Gaye songs
	Happiness Don't Explain	DE62 (10 weeks) DE	-	-	-	-	First published: April 1991
	Dreams to Remember Don't Explain	-	-	-	UK68 (1 week) UK	-	First published: June 1991
1992	Every Kinda People (Remix)	-	-	-	UK43 (3 weeks) UK	-	First published: February 1992 AC radio hit in the USA
	Witchcraft Ridin 'High	-	-	-	UK50 (3 weeks) UK	-	First published: October 1992
1994	Girl u want honey	-	-	-	UK57 (3 weeks) UK	-	First published: June 1994
	Know by Now Honey	DE51 (24 weeks) DE	-	-	UK25 (5 weeks) UK	-	First published: August 1994
	You Blow Me Away Honey	-	-	-	UK38 (4 weeks) UK	-	First published: December 1994
1995	Respect Yourself	-	-	-	UK45 (2 weeks) UK	-	First published: September 1995
2003	Addicted to love	-	-	-	UK42 (2 weeks) UK	-	First published: January 2003 Shake B4 Use vs. Robert Palmer

Awards

Grammy Award for Best Male Vocal Performance - Rock (Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male):

• 1987 for "Addicted to Love"
• 1989 for "Simply Irresistible"

MTV Video Music Awards

• 1986 : Best Male Video for Addicted to Love

RSH gold

• 1995: in the category "Classic of the Year"

Trivia

Robert Palmer's Johnny and Mary was used by Renault in a TV commercial in the early 1980s ; the musical theme of the song was then the car manufacturer's signature tune for eight years.

swell

1. ↑ The Alan Bown Set | Biography & History. In: Allmusic. Retrieved April 18, 2020 (English). 
2. ↑ SWR3 Daily Pop: May 3, 1986 - Robert Palmer with his biggest hit: "Addicted to Love"
3. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: DE Max. / Wo. AT CH UK US
4. ↑ ^{a b} Sources for awards: DE UK US
5. ↑ RSH Gold Award 1995

Chart literature

• Joel Whitburn : Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-2006. Billboard Books, New York 2007, ISBN 978-0-89820-172-7 .
• Joel Whitburn: The Billboard Albums. 6th edition. Record Research, 2006, ISBN 0-89820-166-7 .
• British Hit Singles & Albums. 18th edition. Guinness World Records, 2005, ISBN 1-904994-00-8 .
• Hit singles. Volume 2: Complete UK Chart Data from 1952-2010. Virgin Books, 2010, ISBN 978-0-7535-2245-5 .

Web links

• Homepage of Robert Palmer (English)
• Robert Palmer at laut.de
• Robert Palmer fansite (French)
• Robert Palmer at Allmusic (English)
• Robert Palmer at 45cat.com (English)
• Robert Palmer on Rate Your Music (English)