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Del Palmer

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Del Palmer
Palmer in 1985
Palmer in 1985
Background information
Birth nameDerek Peter Palmer
Born(1952-11-03)3 November 1952
Greenwich, London, England
Died5 January 2024(2024-01-05) (aged 71)
Genres
Occupations
Instruments
  • Bass guitar
  • keyboards
  • percussion
Years active1967–2021
LabelsCredible
Formerly of
  • Cobwebs and Strange
  • Tame
  • KT Bush Band

Derek Peter Palmer (3 November 1952 – 5 January 2024) was an English musician and sound engineer, best known for his work with Kate Bush, with whom he also had a long-term personal relationship from the late 1970s to the early 1990s.[1][2][3] He released his first solo studio album titled Leap of Faith in 2007, followed by Gift in 2010. His third solo album, Point of Safe Return, was released on 6 March 2015.

Early life

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Palmer was born in Greenwich, in southeast London, United Kingdom.

Career

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In 1967, Palmer began playing bass, and joined friend Brian Bath's band, Cobwebs and Strange. In 1969, Palmer and Bath formed Tame with Victor King on drums. The band lasted until 1970. From 1972, Palmer and Bath were in Company with Barry Sherlock (guitar) and Lionel Azulay (drums). They signed to Cube Records in 1973. When Azulay was injured in a road accident, Charlie Morgan joined on drums in 1974 and the band changed its name to Conkers.

In 1977, the KT Bush Band was formed with Kate Bush, Palmer, Bath, and Vic King, playing the pub circuit. Their live set included material that would later appear on Bush's first album.[4] Beginning with her second album, 1978 release, Lionheart, Palmer became one of Bush's main studio bassists (along with John Giblin)[5] and toured with her in 1979.[3]

Palmer was credited as an engineer on Kate Bush's Hounds of Love (1985), The Sensual World (1989), The Red Shoes (1993) [6] and Aerial (2005).[7] Furthermore, Del Palmer appears in several of Kate Bush's music videos; in 1982, he played the get-a-way car driver in the video for "There Goes a Tenner", and in 1986, appeared in the critically acclaimed extended "Experiment IV" video,[8] in which he plays a patient in a secret military base where the 'experiment' of the song's title is performed on him with horrific consequences. The clip, described as a 'film in miniature' also features Hugh Laurie, Peter Vaughan, Dawn French and Paddy Bush; it was banned from broadcast on the BBC programme, Top of the Pops, due to the graphic nature of the video.[8] The music video, directed by Bush herself, went on to be nominated for the Best Concept Music Video at the 1988 Grammy Awards.

Also in 1986, he appeared in the video to "The Big Sky" as a guitar-playing army major, which, in 1987, was nominated for Best Female Video at the MTV Video Music Awards.[9] Del Palmer also appeared as Houdini, the man about to be kissed by Bush on the front cover to her 1982 album, The Dreaming.

He's credited with engineering on three further albums involving Bush: Midge Ure's Answers to Nothing (where Palmer engineered her vocal guest recordings),[10] Roy Harper's Once and Alan Stivell's Again.

He played bass guitar on Lionheart, Never for Ever, The Dreaming, Hounds of Love, The Sensual World and Aerial (on 5 tracks),[11] and on one track on 50 Words for Snow. Palmer played bass on Billy Sherwood's Back Against the Wall[12][13] and Return to the Dark Side of the Moon,[14] both Pink Floyd tribute albums.

Palmer released his first solo album titled Leap of Faith in 2007 with a follow-up five-track EP titled Outtees & Alternatives in 2008. He released his second album, Gift, in 2010. His third album, Point of Safe Return, was released in March 2015. In 2018, Palmer played a series of concerts in England and Ireland, with members of Kate Bush tribute band Cloudbusting to celebrate 40 years since the release of her first album.

He appeared in the BBC television documentary Queens of British Pop discussing Kate Bush, and again in the BBC Four documentary The Kate Bush Story – Running Up That Hill.

Death

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Palmer died on 5 January 2024, at the age of 71.[15]

Kate Bush paid tribute to Palmer, saying: "It’s hard to know what to say… He was a big part of my life and my work for many years. It’s going to take a long time to come to terms with him not being here with us. He was incredibly creative – talented in lots of different ways. He was a brilliant musician, bass player, a great artist – he was always drawing. Once he covered a whole recording consul [sic] in cartoons. It took him days and it looked absolutely stunning. He taught himself to be a recording engineer, engineering several of my albums and later releasing his own...I’m going to miss him terribly."[16][17]

Discography

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  • Leap of Faith (2007)
  • Gift (2010)
  • Point of Safe Return (2015)

References

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  1. ^ "The Independent: Kate Bush: The Return of the recluse". The Independent. Archived from the original on 13 October 2005. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  2. ^ "Salon.com People: Kate Bush". Archive.salon.com. Archived from the original on 20 January 2005. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  3. ^ a b Brian J. Dillard (2008). "Kate Bush: Live at Hammersmith Odeon (1979)". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 14 June 2008. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  4. ^ "Music & CD". Delpalmer.com. Retrieved 19 August 2020. [dead link]
  5. ^ "Del Palmer, Kate Bushs rechte Hand". Gaffa.org. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  6. ^ "Del Palmer interview". Gaffa.org. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  7. ^ "Biography". katebush.com. Archived from the original on 23 August 2007. Retrieved 17 September 2007.
  8. ^ a b "Cloudbusting / Music / Experiment Iv".
  9. ^ "MTV Video Music Awards 1987". MTV. Archived from the original on 30 August 2008. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  10. ^ "Connolly & Company Marketing: Midge Ure – Answers To Nothing". Connollyco.com. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  11. ^ "Kate Bush - Aerial - Latest News". www.katebush.com. Archived from the original on 24 October 2007.
  12. ^ "Sea of Tranquility website. Interview: Billy Sherwood Breaks Down 'The Wall' and Talks About Yes". Seaoftranquility.org. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  13. ^ "Yes discography". Relayer35.com. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  14. ^ "Return to the Dark Side of the Moon: A Tribute to Pink Floyd". Relayer35.com. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  15. ^ Sinclair, Paul (6 January 2024). "Del Palmer, Kate Bush's longtime bass player and engineer, has died". Super Deluxe Edition. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  16. ^ "Del". Kate Bush. 10 January 2024. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  17. ^ Ordonez, Eli (11 January 2024). "Kate Bush pens tribute to Del Palmer: "I'm going to miss him."". NME. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
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