Videos Give Palmer A Leg Up In U.S.

Fashionable and suave, Robert Palmer is a cultured rocker. His last three videos even feature a cast of beautiful models dancing and pretending to play instruments while the well-dressed singer belts out some catchy hooks. Although the video concept was provocative the first time around (Addicted To Love), the idea has worn awfully thin for the latest version, Simply Irresistible. And Palmer has said he doesn't even like the type of woman represented by the models.

So Thursday's Ocean Center concert (showtime 8 p.m.) isn't going to be a restaging of the videos. Concerts notwithstanding, Palmer, 39, may keep the models for his videos: Addicted To Love became his first No.1, and its follow-up, I Didn't Mean To Turn You On, also hit the Top 10. Riptide, the album that features both songs, went triple platinum (selling more than three million copies). Now Simply Irresistible is tracking up the Top 10, moving from No.5 to No.3 this week, and his new album, Heavy Nova, is lodged at No.14 on the LP chart and is No.8 on the compact disc chart.

Robert Palmer during the shooting of the 'Simply Irresistible' music video (1988)

Of course videos aren't solely responsible for those kind of sales. Rather, Palmer's solo career is kicking into high gear after 14 years of recording. The British singer's music has been critically acclaimed since his 1974 LP Sneakin' Sally Through The Alley, but in America, all he had to show for the praise were a couple of minor hits, Bad Case Of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor) and Every Kinda People. It was widespread fan support in Europe that kept his career at full-tilt.

His breakthrough in this country came when he joined John and Andy Taylor of Duran Duran for a recording project, Power Station. The album produced two Top 10 songs in 1985, Bang A Gong (Get It On) and Some Like It Hot. Palmer has been on a streak ever since.

The Power Station (1985)

Although his three solo hits sound somewhat alike (searing guitars, punctuated synthesizers, smoky vocals), Riptide and Heavy Nova are innovative and diverse. The latter, for example, offers everything from reworked disco tunes to tropical tracks. There's also his string-supported version of an old Peggy Lee song (It Could Happen To You) and Change His Ways, a mishmash of music that encompasses Swiss and African influences.

This other side of Palmer is one that probably won't be played on conservative, mainstream radio, but he'll present this aspect of himself in concert. In a prepared interview, Palmer said of his yodeling on Change His Ways: "Everybody really seems to take to that." And the pop-oriented She Makes My Day "seems to grab everybody straight away," he said. The singer said he loves the heavy metal edge to some of his rock tracks because "it is so much fun to play. It's just a wild, nutty release... just a huge wash of sound." Although his voice is as versatile as his music (he's a baritone who can sing tenor and falsetto), he said he has sung primarily as a tenor because he can project better.

Advert for Robert Palmer's album 'Heavy Nova' (1988)

When Palmer declined to go on tour with the Power Station, critics thought he had commited a grave carreer error. Power Station went with the tour without him, recruited Michael Des Barres as lead vocalist. But Palmer's passing on the tour wasn't such an unusual move for him. He has eschewed much of the rock and roll world (and many of the acts in the world) and called his own shots.

He has been married for 18 years, and he and his wife, Sue, have two children, James and Jane. The family man has expressed distaste for the partying and carefree behavior traditionally associated with rock, and the Palmers live in Switzerland - far from the rock havens of New York and London, a city he has said he hates.

Robert Palmer spent much of his childhood in Malta (1950s)

When he got serious about his career, he left his homeland for New York, but eventually he chose a deserted place in the Bahamas to call home. Then Switzerland. His need to move and preference for isolated areas may be a result of his upbringing: His father was a wireless operator in Britain's Royal Navy, and he spent much of his childhood in Malta.

Growing up, he listened to his parents records - which included works by Nat "King" Cole, Lena Horne and Billie Holiday. Maybe those early influences helped mold Robert Palmer into such an atypical, gentlemanly rock singer. 

Chuck Campbell (The News Journal - Sept. 1988)