Questionnaires

Publié le par olivier

Questionnaires

Questionnaire 1979

Stage name: Robert Palmer

Real name: Robert Palmer 

Date of birth: January 19, 1949

Place of birth: Yorkshire, England

Height: 5'10"

Weight: 135 

Colour of hair: Brown

Colour of eyes: Grey

Hobby: Photography, throwing things away

Car: Don't know how to drive

Married to: My wife

Children: Jim (January 6, 1978), ? (December 21, 1979)

Education: Nothing learned at school has been of practical value. Self taught

Home address: Island Records, 444 madison Avenue, NYC, USA

+ Play guitar, drums, bass

 

 

Questionnaire Bravo Magazine 1980

Stage name: Robert Palmer

Real name: Robert Palmer

Date of birth: 1.19.49

Place of birth: UK

Height: 5'10"

Weight: 9 1/2 ST 

Colour of hair: Brown

Colour of eyes: Grey

Married to: My wife

Divorced from: My mother

Children: Jim (3), Jane (1)

Brothers: Mark (21)

Sisters: -

Instruments: Bass, drums, guitar, synthesizer, percussion

School: Navy School Malta, Art School Yorkshire

Professional development: Semi-pro from 16-20, various groups 20-25, solo 25 to present

Career influence: Soul, Ska, Byrds

First public appearances a/ stage, b/ film, c/ tv: a/ Yorkshire night club, b/ -, c/ Grey Whistle Test TV show UK

Manager: Dave Harper, Chris Blackwell

Do you own animals?: No

Favourite coulour: Yellow

Favourite food: Sushi

Which car do you drive?: -

Lucky charm: -

Awards: I can't remember

Hobbies: Photography, painting, snorkeling, throwing things away

 

 

Questionnaire Sixteen 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? Fizcarraldo, 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 1st editions of Jack Vance

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) 

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

 

 

Questionnaire Billboard 1994 

Full name: Robert Allen Palmer

Date and place of birth: January 19, 1949 Yorkshire, England

Most significant achievement: Discovering my own heart

Career goal: Keep on doin' it and get better at it

Favorite book: The Eyes Of The Overworld by Jack Vance

Favorite movie: Fizcarraldo

Favorite song: Money - The Beatles

Favorite album: Look How Long - Loose Endz

First record bought: Soul Ballads by Otis Redding

Last record bought: And She Closed Her Eyes / Stina Nordenstram

Musical heroes: Billie Holiday, Marvin Gaye, Nat King Cole, Peggy Lee

Favorite cartoon character: Squeak The Mouse

Favorite singer: Billie Holiday

Nonmusical heroes: Jack Vance, Gene Wolfe, my Dad

Oldest childhood memory: Seeing Mount Vesuvius erupt from an ocean liner

First crush: Anne Mintoff - Malta 1956

Most embarrassing moment: Accepting a grammy with my flies undone

Pet peeve: Born again non-smokers

Favorite food: Italian

Favorite drink: Glen Grant Scotch

Favorite color: Grey, blue

Most prized possession: My publishing catalogue

Favorite expression: Confusion hath fuck its own masterpiece

Hobbies: Building radio-controlled cars

Dream date: Francesca Dellera

Favorite magazine/newspaper: Herald Tribune

If I could be any animal, I'd be: A dolphin

 

 

 

Questionnaire Q 1994 

What's the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning ? Look at the time to see how long I can procastinate before I actuallly get up.

What's the first gig you went to? A high school dance in Yorkshire in 1960. I can't remember the name of the group but they played pale blue Fenders (which I thought were ugly - it was the first time I'd seen electric instruments). I attempted the twist and embarrassed myself.

Which song do you wish you had written? Happy Birthday.

When did you last cry and why? Last night listening to a new Andy Fraser song - he moved me.

What is your most treasured material possession? The copyrights of my songs.

Who was the last person you slept with? John Taylor, Andy Taylor, Tony Thompson and Bernard Edwards.

What do you think of Bob Dylan? I hear you got a new boyfriend, I ain't never seen him before. I saw you making love with him, you forgot to close the garage door. You think he loves you for your money but I know what he really loves you for. It's your brand new leopardskin pillbox hat.

What is the best advice you ever recieved? Grow up.

What characteristics do you think you've inherited from your parents? A love of music and travel, an accurate bullshit meter and nice fingernails.

What is the biggest myth about fame? That it's desirable.

What are you like when you're drunk? My handwriting goes to pot, I can't articulate chords, my pitch goes out the window along with my diplomacy, I say what I mean and yes, I'll have another.

Who would have play you in a film? Robert Palmer.

Pick five words that describe yourself: Generous, introverted, optimistic, sensual and silly.

Is there one piece of criticism that sticks in your mind? Arnold Schwarzenegger being described as a condom full of walnuts.

Do you believe in God? Yes, God is good.

What is your greatest fear? Falling out of love.

What is your most unpleasant characteristic? If I'm asked to do more than one thing at once, I have a tendency to be irascible, churlish and childish.

What ambitions do you still have to fulfil? To be involved in the instigation of the making of a major motion picture based on the book Eyes Of The Overworld by Jack Vance. Otherwise, ambitions seem to dissolve the closer one gets to achieving them.

Are you afraid of failure? Not yet.

What do you never leave home without? Money, keys, lighter, cigarettes, wits and clothes.

Who is your best male friend and your best female friend? David and Mary.

Who would you most like to meet? Francesca Dellera.

What music would you have played at your funeral? Anything by Billie Holiday up until 1959 (except God Bless The Child and Strange Fruit).

When you look in the mirror, do you like what you see? No. Good living has blurred my once taut outline.

Do you have anything to declare? I declare the song I've written (You Ought To) Know By Now is the best piece of work I've done.

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