Del Palmer | |
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Birth name | Derek Peter Palmer |
Born | November 3, 1952[1] |
Genres | Alternative rock, art rock, R&B, Jazz |
Occupations | Audio engineer, bassist |
Instruments | Bass guitar, Percussion |
Years active | 1967–present |
Associated acts | Kate Bush |
Website | www.delpalmer.com |
Notable instruments | |
1961 Fender Jazz bass |
Del Palmer is a British bass guitarist and sound engineer, best known for his work with Kate Bush, with whom he also had a long-term relationship between the late 1970s and early 1990s.[2][3][4][5][6][7]
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Born in Greenwich south London he began playing bass in 1967, joining 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, but Azulay was injured in a road accident. Charlie Morgan joined on drums in 1974 and the band changed its name to Conkers. A series of singles followed on Cube.[8]
In 1977, the KT Bush Band began with Bush, Palmer, Bath and Vic King, playing the pub circuit. Their live set included material that would later appear on Bush's first album.[8] With her second album, Lionheart, Palmer began working in a studio engineer capacity for Bush.[9] He also toured with her in 1979.[6]
He is credited as an engineer on Kate Bush's The Sensual World, The Red Shoes[10] and Aerial.[11] He also engineered on three further albums involving Bush: Midge Ure's Answers to Nothing (where Palmer engineered her vocal guest recordings),[12] Roy Harper's Once[citation needed] 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).[13]
Palmer plays bass on Billy Sherwood's Back Against the Wall[14][15] and Return to the Dark Side of the Moon,[16] both Pink Floyd tribute albums. He released his first solo album titled Leap of Faith in 2007 with a follow up five-track EP titled Outtees & Alternatives in 2008. That same year, Palmer did the mastering for Lionel Azulay's album Out of the Ashes, which includes the track Wouldn't Change A Thing featuring Kate Bush. He originally engineered and mixed that track in 1990. He recently appeared on the BBC documentary Queens of British Pop discussing Kate Bush. He released his second album entitled GIFT (2010) and currently still works as studio engineer with Kate Bush.