Friday Nite Retro

Welcome once again to your weekly fix of recondite and obtuse musical selections blended with a melange of obscure trivia and bios. . .Friday Nite Retro!

Tonight we're featuring yet another great talent who has departed to that great stage in the sky; a man born in Yorkshire, England in 1949. A lad who joined his first band at the age of 15. A musician who was a member of Bown, Dada, and Vinegar Joe. A blue-eyed soul singer who liked to rock it out as well, he was influenced by Little Feat as well as Caribbean-influenced rock. You know him as: Robert Palmer.

In 1978,Palmer released Double Fun, which reached the Top 50 on the US Billboard charts and scored a Top 20 single with the Andy Fraser-penned "Every Kinda People". With its blend of Caribbean steel pan, violins and moving lyrics, "Every Kinda People" became one of Palmer's best-loved songs, covered multiple times by other artists and cited by music fans and spiritual groups for its positive message.

Every Kinda People


Palmer's next album, 1979's Secrets, was an artistic departure, concentrating on a rockier direction. It produced his second Top 20 single with Moon Martin's "Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor)", which, like "Every Kinda People", became one of his signature tunes.

Bad Case of Loving You


The 1980s saw Palmer find an increasing amount of commercial success. The album Clues, produced by Palmer and featuring Chris Frantz and Gary Numan, generated hits on both sides of the Atlantic, first with the radio-friendly single "Johnny and Mary" and then "Looking for Clues". Catchy music videos matching the synth pop stylings of New Wave gave him much needed exposure to a younger audience.

Johnny and Mary


Looking For Clues


The success was repeated with the 1982 EP release of Some Guys Have All the Luck, which Rod Stewart successfully covered two years later.

Some Guys Have All the Luck


1983 saw Palmer blend techno beats, early sampling and more of the island music of his adopted Bahamas (including steel pan) into the adventurous album Pride. Though the album wasn't the smash that Clues was, it did feature standout tracks in the title song and Palmer's cover of The System's "You Are In My System", with The System's David Frank contributing keyboard tracks to the latter song.

Interview and Pride


"You Are In My System" was an example of Palmer's passion for R&B covers. He jammed the song onto the Pride album after the other tracks were finished. Hearing the track in a Paris club, Palmer rushed back to his Bahamas hometown, where the reconvened band (co-composer Frank included) put together the number. Esquire magazine recounted the tale of the last-minute addition later that year. Palmer did the same in liner notes for his 1992 Addictions Volume 2 CD, which included his re-voiced version of "You Are In My System."

You Are in My System


1985 was a milestone year for Palmer. After Duran Duran went on hiatus, their guitarist Andy Taylor and bassist John Taylor joined renowned session drummer and former Chic member Tony Thompson and Palmer to form the band Power Station. Their eponymous album, recorded mostly at the New York studio for which the band was named, reached the Top 20 in the UK and the US and spawned two hit singles with "Some Like It Hot" and a cover of the T. Rex song "Get It On". Palmer performed live with the band only once that year, on Saturday Night Live. The band toured, and even played Live Aid, with singer Michael Des Barres after Palmer bowed out at the last moment to go back into the studio to further his newly revitalized solo career. It proved to be a good choice for Palmer.

Some Like it Hot


Get it On


Palmer recorded the album Riptide in 1985, recruiting Thompson and Andy Taylor to play on some tracks and Power Station producer Bernard Edwards, who worked with Thompson in the group Chic, to helm the production. Riptide featured the #1 single "Addicted to Love". The song was originally cut with Chaka Khan sharing lead vocals but, due to contractual problems, Chaka was removed for the final mix. The single was accompanied by a memorable and much parodied music video, directed by Terence Donovan, in which Palmer is surrounded by a bevy of near-identically clad, heavily made-up female "musicians". His cover of Cherrelle's "I Didn't Mean to Turn You On" also performed well and, in 1987, he won the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for his song "Addicted to Love".

Addicted to Love


I Didn't Mean to Turn You On


In 1987, Palmer moved to Lugano, Switzerland and set up his own recording studio. Producing Heavy Nova in 1988, Palmer again returned to experimenting, this time with bossa nova rhythms, heavy rock, and white soul balladeering. He repeated his previous success with "Addicted to Love" with the video of "Simply Irresistible", again Palmer with a troupe of female "musicians". In 1989, he won a second Grammy for "Simply Irresistible", which would later be featured in the Tony Award-winning musical Contact. Rolling Stone magazine voted Palmer the best-dressed rock star for 1990.

Simply Irresistable


Palmer stretched his wings even further for his next album, the eclectic Don't Explain. Released in 1990, it covered diverse musical styles including rock, R&B, jazz and Bahamian influences. It, also, featured the Bob Dylan-penned Top 10 single "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight", in a collaboration with UB40, and the Top 20 Marvin Gaye cover "Mercy Mercy Me".

Mercy Mercy Me/I Want You


In 1994, Palmer released the tropical album Honey to mixed reviews and commercial success. While the album failed to spawn any hit singles in the United States, he did find success in Britain with the release of three hit singles "Girl U Want", "Know By Now" and "You Blow Me Away".

Know By Now


The next few years saw more touring and more compilations; the next release of new material, Rhythm and Blues (1999), contained a mixture of Little Feat influenced songs, rock, and pop. Palmer released "True Love", a single from the album Rhythm and Blues; the song was a minor hit in Britain.

True Love


His final release, Drive (2003), was critically hailed as the grittiest and most heartfelt album of his career. Inspired by a previous collaboration with Carl Carlton on a Robert Johnson tribute album, Drive featured covers of fifteen blues standards, plus the original track "Lucky". He also conducted smaller scale tours, mostly around the lucrative casino circuit.

Palmer, who made his home in Lugano, Switzerland for his last 15 years, died in Paris, France in 2003 of a heart attack at the age of 54. He is interred at the cemetery in Lugano. With Thompson's death later that year and Edwards' back in 1996, three members of the Power Station team that helped propel Palmer to his biggest success have met untimely ends.

And, on that somber note, ends this weeks edition of FNR - Have a great weekend!