Holly Palmer videos
Palmer
Relocating to New York in the mid-90's, she recorded her eponymously titled, and critically acclaimed debut album, toured with the likes of k.d. lang and Paula Cole, and garnered a fervent international following. In the process, she continued her ceaseless creative quest, opening up ever-new horizons by never settling for the prevailing musical point of view. In one live show that fans still talk about, Holly and her band re-imagined the entire soundtrack to the epic Wim Wenders film Until The End Of The World, transforming the songs of R.E.M., Elvis Costello, Peter Gabriel, Lou Reed and others into a stunning evening of musical cinematography. Then came a new venture. Asked by an old friend from Boston to add vocals to a work in progress, Holly found that the project was in fact a new album by David Bowie. Admiring her vocal style and skills, he asked Holly to not only duet with him on the album Hours, but to join his band and tour worldwide as well. Back from the road, Holly's restless spirit prompted yet another move, this time back across the country to Los Angeles, where she began a long and fruitful series of musical collaborations, bringing to the forefront her lifelong love of classic soul music. "I wanted to frame my voice with just a few elements. Most important in writing and recording these songs were that I'd leave myself lots of space to sing in. I wanted kicking back beats and big warm bass as my platform to jump from. I think of myself as a storyteller; my main job is to expose characters I've created and their stories. In working to get that right, I discovered that above all other considerations, the immediacy of the human voice and all that it can convey are what I'm most interested in."
b. California, USA. Holly Palmer grew up in Santa Monica, California, and Seattle, Washington, where she regularly sang Sarah Vaughan and Nancy Wilson standards in high school. By the time she attended the Berklee College Of Music in Boston on a scholarship, she had rediscovered her love of pop music and spent many evenings playing at impromptu rock gigs. After Berklee she continued to play irregularly in rock bands in New York, though she still returned to jazz standards when the occasion arose. She signed a development deal with Island Records in 1993 but this failed to produce a full contract. However, she eventually came to the attention of Sue Drew at Reprise Records, resulting in the release of her self-titled debut album in 1996. As she later told Billboard magazine, she never set out to prove herself the easiest of people to work with: ‘Because of my experiences before with industry types, there were certain things that I wanted. I wanted to co-produce the album, and I didn’t want anyone telling me what to sound like.’ The record was indeed co-produced, with Kenny White (Shawn Colvin, Marc Cohn). Holly Palmer featured Meshell Ndegéocello (bass) on its strongest track, ‘Lickerish Man’, as well as guitarists Bill Frisell and John Leventhal.Palmer’s major label experience was not a happy one, and she eventually walked away from Reprise with the masters of two unreleased albums. During this period she also worked with David Bowie on his ‘...hours’ album and world tour. In the early 00s, Palmer set up her own Bombshell label to facilitate the release of her work and began experimenting with a more contemporary sound, drawing on her love of soul and hip-hop. Her second album, 2004’s I Confess, was recorded with help from luminaries such as Dr. Dre, Don Was and Billy Preston. Although Palmer’s original material was highly impressive, the stand-out track was a emotional reading of the Supremes’ ‘You Keep Me Hangin’ On’. Tender Hooks, released shortly after I Confess, featured material originally recorded in the late 90s with Howie B. that had been rejected by Reprise. The album marked an interesting bridge between the alt folk stylings of her debut and the beat heavy I Confess.