One of the great underappreciated singers of the rock era, Robert Palmer sang with such ease that it disguised both his vocal skill and his adventurous tastes. Deeply rooted in soul, he pivoted to a variety of sounds throughout his career, often operating at the vanguard of fashion or perhaps right on the edge of the mainstream. The latter designation suited the albums he made in the mid-’70s, when he played New Orleans funk with the assistance of the Meters, then dabbled with reggae. Palmer’s career started to come into focus with the breezy island sounds of “Every Kinda People” gave him his first American hit, while the pounding arena rock of “Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor)” gave him his second. After a sojourn into new wave on Clues, Palmer joined John Taylor and Andy Taylor in their Duran Duran offshoot the Power Station, an allegiance that brought him back to the Top Ten and opened the door for his 1986 blockbuster Riptide and its accompanying smash single, “Addicted to Love.” Thanks to his stylish, winking videos — the besuited singer was backed by a band of supermodels — Palmer became a superstar on MTV, and he stayed there into the early ’90s, when the tastes of the network and the singer diverged. During the last decade of his life, he targeted an older audience while taking the time to push himself into fresh musical territory, whether it was the old-fashioned pop of Ridin’ High or the contemporary blues of his final album, Drive.
The son of a civil servant in Britain’s Royal Navy, Robert Palmer was born in Batley, West Yorkshire, on January 19, 1949, and largely raised in Malta, where his father was stationed. By the time his family returned to England when he was 12 — they moved to Scarborough, a seaside resort town on the Yorkshire coast — he already had developed an interest in music, falling under the spell of Otis Redding in particular. Palmer attended the Scarborough School of Art & Design and attempted to work as a photographer for the Scarborough Evening News, but he felt the pull toward music. At the age of 15, he started playing guitar and singing with a group called the Mandrakes, but his big break arrived when he joined the progressive soul band the Alan Bown Set in 1969. Palmer sang on their single “Gypsy Girl,” which was enough of a success to prompt the group to have him record all the vocals on The Alan Bown!, an album they had completed with their previous singer, Jess Roden.
Palmer moved to London and joined the large fusion outfit Dada in 1970, leaving the group with its other singer Elkie Brooks and her husband, Pete Gage, to form Vinegar Joe in 1971. With Palmer and Brooks splitting vocal duties, Vinegar Joe signed to Island Records, where they released three albums — Vinegar Joe and Rock N Roll Gypsies, both arriving in 1972, with Six Star General following in 1973 — before splitting. Island retained Palmer as a solo artist, and he headed to New Orleans to record his debut album, Sneakin’ Sally Through the Alley, with the city’s premier funk band, the Meters, along with Lowell George of Little Feat. The release wasn’t a hit — it did chart at 107 in the U.S. — but it provided the foundation for a career, earning enough attention for Palmer to record a second album, Pressure Drop. Delivered in 1975, the set added some reggae and lush soft rock to the funk of Sneakin’ Sally Through the Alley, while its cover art unveiled what would become Palmer’s visual signature: he’s dressed stylishly while a sexy model hovers in the background.