Died On This Date (September 26, 2003) Robert Palmer
themusicsover Robert Palmer
January 19, 1949 – September 26, 2003
Robert Palmer was a popular English rock and blue-eyed-soul singer who had a much longer and fruitful career than many realize. He was just 15 when, in 1969, Palmer cut his first records as the lead singer of The Alen Bown Set. That following year, he formed his own band, Vinegar Joe, with whom he sang and played rhythm guitar. The group soon signed with Island Records and released three critically acclaimed yet commercially ignored albums before the label signed Palmer to a solo deal. He began releasing a string of moderately successful albums that featured such radio-friendly tracks as “Some Guys Have All the Luck,” “Bad Case of Loving You,” and “Clues.” The mid ’80s were particularly kind to Palmer. He first hooked up with members of Duran Duran to form Power Station who scored two huge hits with “Some Like It Hot” and “Get It On (Bang a Gong),” with Palmer on lead vocals. He soon followed that with a handful of his own hits, which included “Simply Irresistable,” “I Didn’t Mean to Turn You On,” and “Addicted To Love.” His catchy dance-rock songs and titillating videos were a perfect match for MTV during its most popular and trend-setting era. Suddenly, Palmer found himself part of an internationally revered club of superstar pop singers that included the likes of Tina Turner, David Bowie and Rod Stewart. By design, Palmer’s output during the ’90s was much more eclectic, making it critically lauded, but never matching his commercial success of the ’80s. Palmer’s final album, 2003’s blues set, Drive, was praised by critics as his most sincere, if not best album he ever released. Robert Palmer suffered a fatal heart attack on September 26, 2003. He was 54 years old.
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Amy Farris was an Austin fiddler who in recent years was living in Los Angeles. Throughout her career, the much-respected musician and singer had collaborated with a who’s-who of Austin and Los Angeles musicial fixtures. That list includes Brian Wilson, Peter Case, Alejandro Escovedo, Exene Cervenka and Kelly Willis. As a session player in Los Angeles, she played on musical tracks on such television shows as Mad Men and CSI: Miami. She was also part of Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women, both the album and the current tour. Several online sources have speculated that Farris may have committed suicide. Official cause of death was not immediately released. She was 40 years old.
John Bonham is best remembered as the powerful drummer for legendary British rock band Led Zeppelin and was arguably the greatest drummer rock has ever known. In 1968, Bonham was asked to join the new band guitarist, Jimmy Page was forming after the break-up of the Yardbirds. He had been recommended by singer, Robert Plant who had worked with Bonham some years earlier in a blues band called Crawling King Snakes. The Led Zeppelin line-up was rounded out with bassist, John Paul Jones. Over the next several years, Led Zeppelin grew in immense popularity due to their genre defining albums and explosive live shows. Bonham’s drumming was as important to the mix as anything else in the band. And his drum solos became a thing of legend, perhaps even introducing the concept to other young bands. One Bonham signature song in particular, “Moby Dick,” sometimes included solos as long as 30 minutes. With Led Zeppelin, Bonham played on some of rock music’s greatest songs. That list includes “Whole Lotta Love,” “Kashmir,” “Immigrant Song,” and of course, “Stairway To Heaven.” On September 24, 1980, Bonham was drinking heavily both prior to, and during band rehearsals. After calling it quits later that night, the band went to Page’s Windsor, England home to sleep. Sometime after midnight, the sleeping Bonham was placed in a bed for the night. He was found dead by Jones and a friend later that afternoon. John Bonham was dead at the age of 32. Cause of death was ruled pulmonary edema, having suffocated from breathing in his own vomit while passed out.
Patrick Bourque was best known as the one-time bassist for Canadian country band, Emerson Drive. Finding moderate success as 12 Guage in and around Alberta, the band soon changed its name to Emerson Drive and moved to Nashville where they landed a deal with DreamWorks. The band released a series of country hits and added Bourque to the band in 2002. Within a couple of years they were opening for the likes of Shania Twain. But in August of 2007, Bourque left the band for an undisclosed reason. Just one month later, he was found dead in his Montreal home. Initial reports indicated that he committed suicide.
Alfred McMoore was an Akron, Ohio based non-traditional, or “outsider” artist whose pieces have been displayed in galleries from Ohio to New York City to France. A community fixture around Akron, McMoore could usually be found riding around town on a bus or bicycle, or at a one of thousands of funerals he had attended for people he didn’t even know. He also enjoyed leaving random (yet non-threatening or unoffensive) telephone messages on people’s answering machines. Many such messages were left for Jim Carney, local journalist and father of the Black Keys’ Pat Carney. In these messages, McMoore would sometimes say, “This is Alfred McMoore. Your black key is taking so long.” McMoore and that phrase would eventually inspire Pat Carney and bandmate, Dan Auerbach to call their band, the Black Keys. Alfred McMoore passed away at the age of 59. Cause of death is not known, though likely related to apparent health issues he suffered over the years.