Robert Micrometer caliper

Robert Allen Palmer was a British singer born the January 19th 1949 in Batley, in the Comté of Yorkshire and dead the September 26th 2003 with Paris. It was known for its voice of rocker and its mixtures musical on albums, combining the Soul music, the Jazz, the Rock, the Reggae or the Blues.

Biography

Robert (Allen) Micrometer caliper was born on January 19th 1949 in Batley, in Yorkshire, in England. He passes the major part of his childhood on the island of Malta where his/her father is based, officer of the royal marine . From this time, it preserves in particular the memory of the songs of Lena Horne, Nat " King" Stick and Billie Holiday diffused by the Radio of the American Armed forces.

Of return in England, it continues a time its studies in Scarborough Technical College and just as of the 16 years age the local group The Mandrakes which ensured number of first parts of concerts of known artists occurring in the area (Jimi Hendrix, The Who).

In 1969, Palmer settles with London and joined Alan Bown Set in which it replaces the singer Jess Roden. It appears thus on the album Listen , published in 1970 on the Island label.

It forms then part of the groups Dada and Vinegar Joe, at the sides of the singer Elkie Brooks. The albums Vinegar Joe , Rock' Roll Gypsies and Six General Star are published between 1971 and 1973, again on the Island label and without much success.

These years of training make it possible nevertheless Robert Palmer to perfect his vocal technique and to be exerted with the composition. Also, when Vinegar Joe separates, Chris Blackwell (owner founder of Island) already perceived its potential and proposes to him to continue its career in solo.

Micrometer caliper flies away then for the the United States where it records its first album in company of considered musicians, members of the groups Little Feat and The Meters. With its Rhythm & crossbred Blues of Funk New Orleans, Sneakin' Sally Through The Alley holds the attention on the other side of the Atlantic, which decides Robert Palmer to emigrate with New York.

The two albums which follow, Pressure Drop in 1975 and Some People Can C What They Like in 1976, fit in the same vein that the first and requisition about the same personnel. Micrometer caliper already made some incursions into the tropical musics by taking again the tube Reggae Presses there Drop Toots & The Maytals as well as the standard caribéen Man Smart, Woman Smarter , title which enables him to briefly appear in the American classifications.

It is in 1978, with the album Double Fun and especially simple the Every Kinda People , which he knows its first real success. Composed by Andy Fraser of the group Free, this ballade with the universal message that he interprets with conviction propels it in signal 20 to the United States. Two of its own compositions are also note: Best Off Both Worlds and You' Re Gonna Get What' S Coming which will be taken again shortly after by Bonnie Raitt.

In 1979, Secret mark an evolution more Rock'n'roll for the singer who also affirms himself as a producer. Recorded in the studios Compass Not with the the Bahamas where it resides from now on, the album includes/understands Off simple the Bad Case Loving You (Doctor, Doctor) created by John " Moon" Martin and that Palmer hoists in the 14th place of the American classification. As for its version of poignant the Edge We Still Be Friends? borrowed from Todd Rundgren, it ensures him of many passages out of radio.

The year 1980 sees Robert Palmer again changing musical direction with the intensive use of the Synthétiseur S and the rather unexpected collaboration of Gary Numan on the album Clues .

Initially, the electronic ballade Johnny And Mary which is extracted from it leaves the perplexed American public and obtains only one success moderated in England. It conquers the rest of Europe however and will end up becoming traditional (anecdotiquement, the song will be used a long time as sound illustration with the publicity of a French make of car, before being begun again by Placebo). The exit of second individual, Looking For Clues supported by the rhythmic one of Chris Frantz of the Talking Heads, confirms this new European passion.

Micrometer caliper then capitalizes its popularity at the time of a round of which the concert given to the Dominion theater of London partially is restored on the album Maybe It' S Live which appears in 1982. Among the new recordings in studio being reproduced on the album, a very personal version of Some Guys Have All The Luck brings finally the recognition to him in its native England.

Surfant then on the new wave of the pop synthetic, it produces Pride in 1983. This heteroclite collection of songs dominated by the coldness of the electronic sounds has however evil to find its public, excellent simple the You Are In My System gaining only one minor success. The artist himself measures the difficulty with rejouer the disc on scene and can only note the dead end in which it is from now on.

Its career however will rebound spectacularly. In 1984, it is contacted by John and Andy Taylor, respectively bass player and guitarist of Duran Duran, then embarked with the beater Tony Thompson and the producer Bernard Edwards in a parallel musical project which ambitionne to amalgamate the Funk group Chic and the Glam Rock way T-Rex. At the beginning, Palmer is had a presentiment of only to interpret one of the titles of the album but its service impresses as much as it is promoted full member of the new super-group The Power Station (of the name of the studio of New Yorkean recording) and collaborates in the writing of the original pieces.

The exit of The Power Station in spring 1985 creates the event. The first two simple, Nap Like It Hot and Get It One (Bang has Gong) , is classified even in signal 10 American. Whereas the adventure was to remain without a future, John and Andy Taylor, surprised by the width of his success, decide to prolong it while leaving in round. They call Robert Palmer for informing some but this one declines politely the invitation. He indeed intends to devote himself again to his career in solo.

A few months later, it delivers Riptide whose it entrusted the production to Bernard Edwards and who partly takes again the gaining formula of Power Station. The album carries out initially rather modest performances and it is only with the publication of third simple that Robert Palmer will know the dedication.

Addicted To Love is certainly a title rock'n'roll very hooker but it is especially carried by the formidable video which the fashion photographer Terence Donovan directs. In impeccable costume, the singer is accompanied there by a group by mannequins out of miniskirts. The clip passes in loop on MTV and the song takes down in May 1986 the first place of the American classification. In a few weeks, it will become a planetary tube, making Micrometer caliper a star.

With the autumn, the international success of individual the I Didn' T Mean To Turn You One consolidates this statute. Robert Palmer puts then fine at 16 last years on the Island label by signing a more advantageous contract with EMI. It is also at that time that it leaves the Bahamas to be established with Lugano in Italian Suisse.

At the beginning of the summer 1988 appears Heavy Nova whose title evokes the rather incongruous bringing together of the Heavy Metal and of the Worked-Nova. Helped once again by the glamoureuse imagery of Terence Donovan, very the rock'n'roll Simply Irresistible creates sensation (Micrometer caliper the interpreter even in the televised publicity of a fizzy drink mark). In England, the ballade She Makes My Day is added to the list of its successes, reaching signal 10. As for the resumption of the funky Early In The Morning of Gap Band, it enters signal 20 American. On the whole, six simple is extracted from the album. At 39 years, the singer is at the top of his popularity.

Island, its old label, benefits from it to publish Addictions Vol.1 . Exit in 1989, this remarkable compilation present, in addition to the impossible to circumvent ones, a few less known pieces and others remixés, the unit being decorated lighting comments of the artist. The second volume is announced for the following year but it is well a new album of news which arrives in the vats in October 1990.

Don' T Explain offers a dazing musical diversity and makes it possible Robert Palmer to collect some new international successes. One surprising association with the group of reggae UB40 on the I' L Be Your Baby Tonight of Bob Dylan is registered thus among its greater successes on the other side of the channel. Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)/I Want You , excellent pot-rotted of two songs of Marvin Gaye, is also largely greeted on the two sides of the Atlantique.

After the publication in 1992 of awaited Addictions Vol.2 , the singer carries out an old dream by recording Ridin' High , a collection of standards of the jazz immortalized inter alia by Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra or Ella Fitzgerald. In spite of the artistic quality of the album (which was at the origin to be used as support with a musical comedy), the general public seems disconcerted by this new orientation.

Robert Palmer returns then in 1994 with Honey , a disc on which one finds all the variety of his influences. The pop song Know By Now and the romantic ballade You Blow Me Away briefly appear in the signal 40 English but the sales of the album appear once again disappointing.

The catalog of the singer is very appreciated of the public, as the vast success testifies some which in 1995 The Very Best Of Robert Palmer gains (number 4 in England). This compilation which comprises the new resumption of the Respect Yourself of the Staple Singers however puts a term at the flexible contract Palmer with EMI.

A project of meeting of the group The Power Station, 10 years after its transitory but glorious career, is seen then opposed by the withdrawal of John Taylor and especially by the sudden death of the producer and bass player replacing Bernard Edwards. Taken along by simple the She Edge Rock'n'roll It , the album Living In Fear appears finally a year later, in a relative indifference.

In 1998, Robert Palmer assembles for the label Metro Blue some of its best " adventures in the music tropicale". Compilation set of themes Woke Up Laughing thus covers 20 years of recordings of which some are presented in rare or new versions. The booklet which accompanies it includes an interview of the artist testifying his musical scholarship.

With the Spring 1999, simple the True Love announces the arrival of the album Rhythm & Blues on which one also finds a version very sober of the Twenty Million Things of Lowell George. Micrometer caliper carries out on this occasion a return to the stage for what will be its last round through the United States.

In the invitation of his friend guitarist Carl Carlton, it takes part two years later in the project Hellhound One My Trail: Songs Off Robert Johnson . He interprets the song Milk Cow' S Calf Blues then, allured by the challenge which the exploration of a new musical genre represents, decides to devote to the blues the whole of its next album. A convincing resumption of the I Need Your Coils So Bad of Little Willie John and another of the TV dinners of ZZ Top is reproduced on the compilation At His Very Best which appears at the end of 2002 but the new disc is made available only in May 2003.

Rather unusual fact for the singer, Drive collects criticisms eulogistic, its vocal performance and the choice of stripped enough arrangements being particularly greeted. Micrometer caliper ensures of it promotion during the major part of the summer. In September, it occurs at the sides of Carl Carlton in Germany and evokes for the regional television channel British Yorkshire TV the large artists who inspired it: Otis Redding, Billie Holiday,…

September 26th 2003, is two days after the recording of the emission My Kinda People , Robert Palmer dies suddenly of an heart attack in a hotel room to Paris. It was 54 years old. This premature and unexpected disappearance saddens its many fans as well as most of music industry. It puts a term at a rich and exemplary career, as constant in quality as it was varied by the adopted styles.

Criticisms

According to the fans, the image saleswoman of the artist spread by MTV in the middle of the Eighties, that of the playboy drawn with four pins surrounded by a myriad from pretty girls, partly discredited the serious musician who it was.

Eclectic and avant-gardist, it could skilfully incorporate the musics of the world and sonorities electronic in the Drunk person white of its beginnings.

Equipped with a voice general-purpose, in turn suave and raucous, Palmer could sing several very different kinds: Funk, Rock'n'roll, Reggae, New Wave, Jazz, R&B,… In addition to 35 years of career, it explored about all the musical genres, diverting with each new album the majority of criticisms and sometimes part of its public.

Discography

Albums solo

Sneakin' Sally Through The Alley (1974)
Presses Drop (1975)
Some People Can C What They Like (1976)
Double Fun (1978)
Secrets (1979)
Clues (1980)
Maybe It' S Live (1982)
Pride (1983)
Riptide (1985)
Heavy Nova (1988)
Don' T Explain (1990)
Ridin' High (1992)
Honey (1994)
Rhythm & Blues (1999)
Live At The Apollo (2001)
Drive (2003)

The Power Station

The Power Station (1985)
Living room In Fear (1996)

Compilations

The Early Years - The Alan Bown (1987)
Addictions vol. 1 (1989)
Addictions vol. 2 (1992)
Six Gypsies Star - Vinegar Joe (1993)
The Very Best Off Robert Micrometer caliper (1995)
Woke Up Laughing (1998)
Master Series (1999)
The Best Off Robert Micrometer caliper (1999)
Classic Robert Micrometer caliper (2000)
Addicted To Love (2000)
Premium Gold Collection (2000)
Simply Irresistible (2000)
The Essential Selection (2000)
Some Guys Have All The Luck (2002)
Best Off Both Worlds (2002)
At His Very Best (2002)
The Best Off The Power Station - The Power Station (2003)
Speed Queen Off Ventura - Vinegar Joe (2003)
The Ultimate Collection (2003)
Johnny And Mary (2003)
The Very Best Off The Island Years (2005)
Addicted To Love (2006)
Live At The Apollo (2006)
Gold (2006)
The Very Best Of Robert Palmer (2006)
The Best Of Robert Palmer (2006)
Gold (2007)
The Silver Collection (2007)
Island Years 1974-1985 (2007)
Platinum (2007)

Source

http://robert-palmer.over-blog.com (the nonofficial site but most complete on the singer)
http://wm06.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:kifoxqr5ld6e (English biography and discography)

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