Questionnaire 16 Magazine (1985)

Real last name: Palmer

First: Robert 

Middle: Allen

Stage name: Robert Palmer

Do you have a nickname? How did you get it?: No

What is your height: 5'10"

Weight: 140

Eye color: Grey

Hair color: Brown

When were you born? 1949

Where? Yorkshire, UK

Where do you live now? (give place and describe home): Bahamas detatched 3 bedroom house on the sea in the deserted part of the islands

Do you have any pets? (give name and describe): Alsatian. Buster

Do you have a car or motorcycle? (give brand, style, coclor, year): No. Can't drive

Who are your favorite actors and actresses? Klaus Kinski, Al Pacino, Ornella Muti, Pia Zadora

What are your favorite movies? Fitzcarraldo, Pale Rider, Woman In The Dunes, Scarface

What are your favorite TV shows? The Explorer Channel

What kind of books do you enjoy reading? Fantasy, biographies (Vance, Mishima, Wolfe)

What do you do in your spare time? Read, watch movies, compile and edit music

What sports do you like to participate in? Watch? None

Can you cook? What foods? Pasta

What's your favorite food? French, Italian, Japanese, Indian

Have you ever been in love? Always

Describe your first date? A walk in the woods, nervously holding hands

Are you married? If yes, give name, give children's name(s) and age(s): Yes. Sue, Jim (8), Jane (6)

What type of person do you usually find most attractive? Women

What type of person do you usually dislike? Agressive, loud, cliquey, snobs

When you give presents to someone special, what do you usually pick? What I think they'd love  

What was the biggest thrill of your life? The birth of my children

What was the biggest disappointment? The lack of success of my album Pride

Out of all the places you've been to, which one would you most like to go back to? Why? Umbria, Central Italy, because it's beautiful and peaceful

Who are your closest friends in the business? Dony Wynn, my drummer, Dave Harper, my manager, Chris and Tina Frantz (Talking Heads), Chaka Khan

Financially, how do you indulge yourself? Clothes, food, wine, property, books, records

What is your most prized material possession? My collection of signed first editions of Jack Vance

A signed first edition of Jack Vance's sci-fi book 'The Dying Earth'

What kind of Cologne do you use? None

Do you regularly wear jewelry? If so, describe: None

What are you afraid of? Fear

What do you like best about yourself? My patience

What is your worst habit? Over doin' it 

Your best one? Work concentration obsessiveness

Describe your personality: Introvert, adaptable, intense, optimistic

What is the most serious problem you've had to solve? Organizing burglar alarms after repeated break-ins in the Bahamas, which unsettled my family

What do you daydream about? Places other than where I am

What do you like to do on an evening tour? Eat, see a show, go somewhere intimate

Do you dance? What's your favorite kind of dancing? Yes, close to my partner or James Brown

What are your favorite colors? Grey, pink, black

What's the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to you? Embarrassing things happen to other people

Are you a worrier? No

Are you superstitious? No

Are you right or left-handed? Right

Do you wear glasses or contacts? No

Do you smoke? Yes, 20 a day

What makes you laugh? My own misfortune, misunderstandings

What makes you cry? God

What kinds of gifts do you like to recieve? Any

Give family info: parents' names, brothers and sisters names and ages: Father Charles (60), mother Anne (50), brother Mark (26)

Are any of them in show business? In what role? No

Where do they live now? Yorkshire, UK

Did your parents always approve of your choice of career? No

Do they now? Yes (since they tried my pool)

What was your first ambition? To be a flier

Who has helped you most with your career? What career?

What do you like most about your work? Singing

Least? Cameras

If you weren't in show business, what would you have done? Be David Attenborough (Life On Earth)

Do you ever regret choosing show business as your career? Nonsense

How did you get started in the business? Love of music

How do you feel about being regarded as a sex symbol? Better than being famous for being a drug addict

Have you ever dated a fan? Yes

What is the best way for a fan to approach you? Boldly and politely

What advice would you give a young person who would like to get into show business? Get into music or acting or whatever first, then show business is a side effect

How does a would-be performer know if he/she has any talent? By the ease of his/her progress

Do you have any idols? Did you when you were younger? Jack Vance (author)

Do you read your fan mail? Yes

Do you personally answer fan mail? Occasionally

What is the best place for fans to write you? The record company (Island Records NYC)

Marvin Gaye and Billie Holiday are Robert Palmer's favorite male and female artist

What are your personal and career plans for the future? To keep on doing it

What is the main instrument you play? Bass

Do you play any others? Guitar, drums, synth.

What other bands have you been in? When? Mandrakes '65-'70, Alan Bown '70-'72, DaDa '72-'73, Vinegar Joe '73-'75

What's your favorite kind of music? Honest, heart-felt

Your favorite male artist? Marvin Gaye

Female? Billie Holiday

Your favorite group? Comsat Angels

Do you listen to the music of other bands? Constantly

Do you watch their stage show? Rarely

What's your pre-show routine? Get there, get changed

Do you have any superstitions about that routine, your stage costumes, etc? None. I have no superstitions about anything

What's your after-show routine? Go to bed

What odd jobs have you had along the way? Milkman, graphic designer

Were you a member of a band in high school or college? Yes, The Mandrakes

When did you begin playing your instrument? I began singing at 9, playing guitar at 12

Did you get lessons or instructions, or are you self-taught? I took guitar lessons for 1 month but mostly I was taught by listening back to a tape recorder which I started using at 11 years old

How did you meet the other members of the band? The manager? How did you get your first recording deal? The band asked me to join when they heard me playing harmonica on the school sports grounds while avoiding rugby by feigning illness. The manager knocked me off my bike (15). My record company bought the group I was in to get me (21). 

Do you enjoy being on the road? Always

What do you take with you to make things more comfortable? Hi-fi, a band 

What's the typical schedule for a tour day? I usually fly ahead of the group in order to meet promo commitments, meet them at sound-check, nap until show-time, crash afterwards in a local hotel while the band travel overnight.

Do you take family and/or friends on an entire tour (A)? Or do you fly them to big city dates (B)? B, occasionally

Do you have any regular exercise or meditation routine to loosen up and stay in shape? Music does all of it. It's an overwhelming discipline

How many instruments do you take on the road? As many as it takes (2 guits, 2 keys, 2 drums, bass - etc)

Do you write songs while on tour? No, it's another head

How do you usually write a song? Music first? Lyrics first? They write me

Where do you get ideas? Who knows? People and relationships (particularly boy / girl) are always new and timeless at the same time

Are any of your family members in the business? No

Where did you grow up? In the Mediteranean

How did your parents feel when you decided to become a professional musician? What advice did they give you? Not keen. Get some legit. credentials first

If you have or plan to have children, how do you feel about them being in the business? That's their business (don't pot your daughter on the stage, ma)

What's your responsability as a role model for children? Constancy, sensitivity to other's needs

Did you have a teacher or friend when you were growing up who was especially influential? How? Singers on record always inspired me with their attitude, opened up the possibility of feeling that way too

What's the name of your current LP? Riptide

Does it have a theme? Love and interpersonal relationships

List some song titles, what they're about, what inspired them:

Addicted To Love - self explanatory - woke me up in the middle of the night

Didn't Mean To Turn You On - originally recorded by a girl, written by 2 men, its sexism offended me so i attempted an irony by role-reversal

Riptide - I heard as a tot and was reminded of it years later while researching material for a big-band project I was working on in NYC with 16 girls

I've Come To Rely On You (aka Get It Through Your Heart) - an attempt at an overtly sentimental ballad, no irony, no cynicism

How much do you rehearse before recording? Very extensively on arrangements

Are you in the studio for the entire process of recording? Yes, I like the responsability, i usually produce, write and arrange

Do you write or modify songs as you go along? Yes, that's the reason for such extensive pre-production, so that the sessions can afford to be spontaneous without getting off the track

Do you ever get behind the console and work with your producer / engineer? I delegate to the engineer. That's his expertise, just as much as the bass is the bass-player's

How long does it take you to record an album? 3 months

Do you have a studio at your home? Yes, I use it all the time, it's a hobby, still

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