British artist, Robert Palmer never came across much of a rock & roller as he was quite dapper, usually performing wearing a suit and the occasional tie but he was more than capable of tearing the roof off with his rich, powerful voice.
Heavily influenced by the American blues and r&b he heard as a kid, Palmer began his music career performing in several rock and jazz-fusion bands before going solo and achieving his first taste of commercial success with the 1978 song, "Every Kinda People" off of his fourth album, "Double Fun". The single reached number sixteen on the U.S. pop chart while the lead single off his next album, "Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor)" going slightly higher, peaking at number fourteen on the Billboard Hot 100 the following year.
Robert Palmer was invited to join Duran Duran members, John Taylor and Andy Taylor along with Chic drummer, Tony Thompson to form a super-group, The Power Station in 1985. Their self-titled album featured two U.S. top-ten smashes, "Some Like It Hot" and a remake of T. Rex's "Bang A Gong (Get It On)".
Around the time of the recording of The Power Station album, Palmer was working on his next solo album with assistance by his fellow bandmates and the record was produced by Bernard Edwards of Chic. "Riptide" was released later in '85 and featured Palmer's only number one song, "Addicted To Love". The song was also made memorable due to the music video which was inspired by the work of artist, Patrick Nagel. A cover of r&b vocalist, Cherrelle's 1984 hit, "I Didn't Mean To Turn You On" also made the top five with the album becoming his biggest seller with over two million copies sold and winning the singer a Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance.
Although the world lost Robert Palmer in 2003, his legacy lives on with a vibrant collection of music that still feels very fresh and exciting.
Enjoy two of my favorite songs by Mr. Palmer:
"Every Kinda People" - Robert Palmer (1978)
"You Are In My System" - Robert Palmer (1983)
As a bonus, I couldn't resist showing the simple but quite clever sexy video for "Addicted To Love":
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