Robert Palmer

drummer Tony Thompson -- Bernard Edwards, Thompson's Chic bandmate, handled production -- to record a backing track for a cover of T. Rex's "Get It On (Bang a Gong)" intended for Bebe Buell. This evolved into the notion of recording an album with a revolving series of lead singers, a rotation that would've included Robert Palmer, but after he cut vocals for "Communication," they decided he should be their permanent singer and the group became the Power Station. Their eponymous album arrived in March 1985, generating Billboard Top Ten hits in "Some Like It Hot" and "Get It On" -- the former reached 14 in the UK, the latter went to 22 -- but Palmer opted to not participate in the group's summer tour, choosing to return to his solo career instead. Heavy Nova Palmer quickly recorded Riptide, an album produced by Bernard Edwards and featuring contributions by Tony Thompson and Andy Taylor, releasing it at the end of the year. Riptide's first single, "Addicted to Love," became a smash hit thanks in part to its instantly iconic video featuring Palmer performing in front of a band consisting of supermodels styled as mannequins. The video saturated MTV, sending "Addicted to Love" to number one on Billboard (it reached five in the U.K.), making Robert Palmer a rock star in the process. He recycled the video's concept for "I Didn't Mean to Turn You On," the other big hit from Riptide, and for "Simply Irresistible," the Grammy-winning number two hit from 1988's Heavy Nova (it won Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male, the same award given to "Addicted to Love" in 1997). Addictions, Vol. 1 Heavy Nova marked Palmer's first album for EMI -- Island countered its release with the hits collection Addictions, Vol. 1 -- and saw the singer exhibiting some signs of creative restlessness; next to synthesized hard rock sat a version of the Johnny Burke & Jimmy Van Heusen standard "It Could Happen to You," along with hints of Caribbean and Cajun music. The 1991 album Don't Explain found Palmer working with the legendary jazz producer Teo Macero on a set of originals and covers. Among the latter was a Marvin Gaye medley of "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" and "I Want You," which gave him his final American Top 40 hit; it also was a U.K. Top Ten, as was a version of Bob Dylan's "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight" recorded with UB40. Honey Robert Palmer reunited with Teo Macero on Ridin' High, a 1992 album where he indulged his obsession with the Great American Songbook. He worked with producer Stephen Hague on Honey, a 1994 album that leaned toward adult contemporary despite a cover of Devo's "Girl U Want." The following year, Palmer participated in a Power Station reunion that turned out to be ill-fated: John Taylor left during the recording of Livin in Fear and his replacement Bernard Edwards died from pneumonia shortly after its release. Rhythm & Blues Palmer returned to his love of R&B for 1999's aptly titled Rhythm & Blues, thereby setting him on the path that led to 2003's Drive, a record that was dominated by the blues. A few months after its May release, Robert Palmer died of a heart attack in a Parisian hotel room. He was in town recording a television special called My Kinda People. He was 54 years old.