Talk:Robert Palmer

Death

Does anyhow have any information surrounding his death? It seems unusual for an apparently healthy 54 year old man to suffer a heart attack and die. ThereIsNoSteve 03:25, 28 Sep 2003 (UTC)

Considering my 60 year old non-smoking, healthy boyfriend just died from a Sudden Death cardiac event, it isn't hard to believe at all. And Palmer had several issues, smoking, high blood pressure. So it's possible.Zabadu (talk) 22:38, 10 July 2014 (UTC)

According to http://www.scotlandonsunday.com/entertainment.cfm?id=1075762003 :

The reasons behind the heart attack remain to be established. Cater said: "Robert had no history of heart problems. Only two weeks ago he had a medical check-up which gave him a clean bill of health.

Cater is Palmer's manager, Nick Cater. RickK 03:29, 28 Sep 2003 (UTC)

Robert Palmer was a heavy smoker throughout his life. The French police have reportedly opened an inquiry into the circumstances of his death. Leanne 03:32, 28 Sep 2003 (UTC)

It has been reported that Robert Palmer had suffered from High Blood Pressure, which could have easily led to the heart attack. That combined with being a heavy smoker bumped up the risk factor.

Also, other sources say that he wasn't buried in Switzerland, but in London...the location of his grave is being kept confidential by his family. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Chkencyclopedia (talk • contribs) 15:44, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Who is Mary Ambrose? She contested RPs will, but she's not mentioned elsewhere in the article. What was her relationship to him? --Web1X (talk) 01:42, 6 April 2011 (UTC)

Friend and assistant

Bruce Palmer

No relation, right? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 12.10.127.58 (talk) 22:30, 19 December 2006 (UTC).

Nagel's influence?

What ground is there for supposing that the two videos referred to in the article owed anything to the artwork of Nagel. Nagel's name is mentioned twice in the article which is no doubt good news for him but having looked at his artwork I don't see that there is any reason to suppose that the videos had any direct connection to it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.187.233.172 (talk) 18:00, 17 October 2010 (UTC)

I removed the unsubstantiated Nagel speculations. If someone has evidence that the director was making reference to Nagel, then they can be restored with sources. Nicmart (talk) 03:49, 21 October 2018 (UTC)

Category

Is there any reference that he really became a Swiss citizen?--Mycomp (talk) 03:54, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

San Diego hoaxer problem

There is a hoaxer that has been active at this article. The hoax is that Robert Palmer was dating someone named Geraldine Edwards at the time of his death, rather than Mary Ambrose which is what all the newspapers reported. Another hoax story from the same person is that Geraldine Edwards was the inspiration for the groupie character Penny Lane in Cameron Crowe's movie Almost Famous, but that person is actually Pennie Trumbull who lives in Oregon. A third story is that Geraldine Edwards posed for the 1975 Robert Palmer album cover Pressure Drop. Since the nearly naked Pressure Drop model is unnamed in sources, I have no idea whether this last story is true, but the first two stories are demonstrably false.

Here's some background. The San Diego person, whoever it is, has posted extensive hoax material on various online discussion boards starting in November 2010 and going for three years. For instance there is:

• Oregon Music News which flatly tells the reader that the Penny Lane inspiration is Pennie Trumbull. But if you scroll down to the reader comments, you get somebody named Wheels saying that Geraldine Edwards was also the inspiration. Comment on September 29, 2012. You also get somebody named Julian Wray who says the same thing. Comment on October 24, 2012. There's also Laurie who says the same thing on July 23, 2013.
• Denver Westword Blogs, an article about groupies. Some readers argue about Geraldine Edwards, one named Paul insisting she was the inspiration for Penny Lane while the other named Lacebra cuts holes in the assertion.
• Today I Found Out published a story about Clapton's women. The blog says that Geraldine Edwards was the inspiration for the Penny Lane groupie character. Lacebra shows up in the reader comments to debunk the blog.
• Answers.com hosts a bunch of trolling questions about Geraldine Edwards with regard to the Penny Lane character, Eric Clapton, and Robert Palmer. The unsigned reader answers are the same hoax nonsense scraped from discussion boards.

• A telling question on Answers.com is the following: "Is it true that Geraldine Edwards Robert Palmers partner was the County Psychic working with the San Diego Police Dept in the nineties?" It looks like the question was asked and answered by the same person using two different handles. The same account asked multiple trolling questions about Geraldine Edwards, and putting down Mary Ambrose. See the account named "Moira Kennedy".

• Ultimate Guitar published a report about Robert Palmer's burial, saying his partner at the time was Mary Ambrose. Down in the reader comments, various people say that the article is wrong, that Geraldine Edwards was Palmer's girlfriend. No references are supplied. The comments are dated November 23, 2010; January 10, 2011; and November 27, 2011. Another nasty commenter pretends to be the brother of Mary Ambrose and pours vinegar on the Palmer/Ambrose relationship: August 16, 2011.
• Margaret Cho's blog has something about Robert Palmer. Down in the reader comments, someone says Geraldine Edwards was his girlfriend: January 5, 2011.
• Contact Music forum discussion about Robert Palmer's money. A reader from "Southern California" says that Geraldine Edwards was the girlfriend of Palmer. Comment made roughly November 2010.
• And What's Next blog about meeting Robert Palmer. Three very extensive reader comments, using different names but writing in the same style, assert that Geraldine Edwards was the girlfriend of Robert Palmer. The comments were made on February 9, 2011; September 15, 2011; and October 1, 2011.
• Phillip Rauls' Photolog talks about Palmer. A bunch of reader comments say that Geraldine Edwards was the girlfriend of Robert Palmer. They all assert they knew Palmer. One places the connection in Coronado, near San Diego. Another commenter says he's from San Diego, and he diminishes the role of Mary Ambrose in Palmer's life. This page is the mother lode of fool's gold.
• Encyclopedia of World Biography has an article about Palmer. One user comment attempts to correct the encyclopedia by saying that Geraldine Edwards was Palmer's girlfriend. The reader pooh-poohs the Ambrose/Palmer relationship.
• AOL Answers is similar to Answers.com in that trolling questions can be asked and answered by the same person using a different log in. In this case two different accounts were used to answer the question by a third account. All of the accounts were used just once, for this question.
• Lipstick Alley online forum includes someone going on and on about Geraldine Edwards, dishing Ambrose, writing in the same style as other hoaxer entries. The comment was made on January 6, 2011.
• Topix Orlando announces Palmer's death. Someone from San Diego says on December 23, 2010, that Geraldine Edwards and not Mary Ambrose was Palmer's last girlfriend. Another commenter from San Diego agrees on January 15, 2011. A non-hoaxer pastes a news clip about Mary Ambrose being the final girlfriend. A third account from San Diego follows that on July 1, 2011, by slamming Ambrose and pumping up Geraldine Edwards. On this discussion board, there are multiple editors from various places, but only San Diego ones push the Geraldine hoax.
• Deseret News carried a Robert Palmer obit. A supposed reader from Del Mar (near San Diego) says that Geraldine Edwards was the final girlfriend of Palmer. January 20, 2011.
• The Free Library announces Palmer's death. A reader says on November 3, 2010, that Geraldine Edwards was his final girlfriend, and he puts Ambrose down.

Someone from San Diego is obviously going to great lengths to perpetrate a hoax, using a wide variety of fora to make comments, poisoning the well against the reliable sources. It's astonishing how obsessive this effort is.

This Wikipedia article helped to continue the hoax, probably unknowingly.

• Bellazon has a biography of Palmer. A reader comment tries to say that Geraldine Edwards was his girlfriend. Wikipedia is said by Bellazon to be their source, then the reader says go look again at Wikipedia as it has been changed. The comment was made on March 12, 2011, in response to the original July 2010 post. In the intervening time, Hhfjbaker made these hoax-powered changes to the biography on February 21, 2011, citing no sources. This was probably an innocent mistake by Hhfjbaker, based on the above reader comments. Hhfjbaker's mistake was not using WP:Reliable sources.

After our Wikipedia article started carrying the hoax in February 2011, the hoax migrated electronically out to mirror and copycat sites.

• Duran Duran wiki scraped Wikipedia for its Robert Palmer biography, and they got the hoax version.
• Last FM also appears to have scraped Wikipedia when the hoax was up.
• Pajiba blog asserts Geraldine Edwards was the inspiration for Penny Lane.
• Famous Hookups is one of those gossip sites that scrapes the web to come up with uncontrolled nonsense. It says Geraldine Edwards was the girlfriend of Robert Palmer at his death.
• North Texas Drifter blog talks about Robert Palmer on November 20, 2013. He says Geraldine Edwards was the final girlfriend of Palmer. The Wikipedia article at that time said the same thing, not having been corrected yet by me. You can see the two supporting citations are baloney. I came along a month later to fix the problem.

The various San Diego IPs who have perpetrated the hoax include:

• 98.173.35.18 (talk · contribs · WHOIS)
• 209.129.16.5 (talk · contribs · WHOIS) CSU Network, from the San Diego Community College District
• 130.191.108.158 (talk · contribs · WHOIS) San Diego State University
• 130.191.108.177 (talk · contribs · WHOIS) San Diego State University
• 146.244.11.175 (talk · contribs · WHOIS) San Diego State University
• 174.79.253.109 (talk · contribs · WHOIS)

Here are some fake references used by the IP:

• Tom Peavy. "A Talk with Director Cameron Crowe". The New York Timesdate=August 25, 2010.[1]
• Robin Redmare (January 5, 2011). "Springfields Rough Road". Detroit Reader.[2]
• Robin Redmare (January 5, 2011). "Springfields Rough Road". The Detroit Free Press.[3]
• Phelps, Frank (28 September 2003). "Dapper Rocker Robert Palmer dies". The Chicago Sun Times. p. 27. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Gordon, Jane (28 September 2003). "Dapper Rocker Robert Palmer dies". The Chicago Sun Times. p. 27. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)[4]
• Marks, Tracy (29 October 2004). "Former Employee and Lover of Robert Palmer Challenges his Will; Mary Ambrose says she is not a Heartless Goldigger". The Sun. p. 39. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Mark D'Ambrosio (June 20, 2006). "Eric Clapton Talks". The Boston Beacon. [5] ...Which was soon changed to the following...
• Mark D'Ambrosio (June 20, 2006). "Eric Clapton Talks". The Boston Globe. [6]

If any of this stuff shows up again, please delete as soon as possible. Binksternet (talk) 06:37, 15 January 2015 (UTC)

• See Wikipedia:Long-term abuse/Geraldine Edwards hoax from San Diego. Any new hoax attempts should be logged there. Binksternet (talk) 05:30, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

Total hooey. Edwards was Palmer's girlfriend, Ambrose never was. In any case, neither is important enough to be included in Palmer's entry. Neither received any portion of his estate or was in any way a significant public figure. Only someone with an unusual personal interest would devote such incredible energy and intention to such a tangential matter as this. Edwards reportedly asked Wikipedia to remove her name from the Palmer entry and others. Nicmart (talk) 03:55, 21 October 2018 (UTC)

References

Seems like the Nicmart user is perpetuating this bizarre hoax and linked to a bogus, self written blog as proof that his inane fantasy is a reality. Nickeleh (talk) 07:22, 29 December 2018 (UTC)

Yes, Nicmart's linked text is complete nonsense, a fantasy of falsehood. It's scary to see how the hoax can be believed. Binksternet (talk) 13:32, 29 December 2018 (UTC)

Why do you have such an incredible personal investment in whether Ambrose was Palmer’s girlfriend. This goes way beyond just casual interest. Nicmart (talk) 22:18, 22 April 2019 (UTC)

Song rights question

I just read the San Diego hoaxer entry. The editor who contributed it on this page must have a huge collection of hand woven baskets. SMH. Waste of space. I was wondering if Robert Palmer owned the rights to the songs he wrote, or if they were corporate owned. Should that info be included in the article? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Loki49 (talk • contribs)

To the best of my knowledge, the Universal Music Corp. owned the entirety of his music rights.

Potential American Tour planned before Robert Palmer's death?

I read that Robert Palmer was planning an American tour before his death, and am curious about the veracity of this information. Also, I understand that he made demos of new songs after the release of Drive, and am wondering about the disposition of these songs. Btw, after reading the San Diego Hoaxer entry, I am awarding the editor who entered it on this page 'the Golden Butterfly Net' award. I don't believe a word of it. And one more question. Was My Kinda People ever aired by Yorkshire Television?MoormannM (talk) 21:07, 20 February 2015 (UTC)

My Kind of People/Live Aid

Curious about why My Kind of People was never aired. Did Robert Palmer ever participate in an Live Aid Shows? I don't want to be a downer, but I just saw the San Diego Hoaxer manifesto. Talk about the elephant in the room, prosaically put, pure nonsense. Troll in the basement time. My dad had a succinct expression for people like the author of the San Diego Hoaxer contribution. He'd say they were 'a quart low.' It works here. Did Robert Palmer ever work on another artists' recordings prior to '74, and if so who? — Preceding unsigned comment added by WolfeB (talk • contribs) 00:14, 14 December 2016 (UTC)

Photo

I think the article needs a better photo of Mr. Palmer, if anyone can find one. PKT(alk) 18:31, 22 April 2017 (UTC)

This is not a flattering picture of Mr. Palmer. Could you think about putting up a different one? 136.168.157.112 (talk) 17:30, 22 March 2024 (UTC)

On this topic I had added "needs-photo=Yes" to the {Talk Header} above. Thanks. - Derek R Bullamore (talk)

Mary Ambrose

Ambrose was not Palmer's girlfriend. His girlfriend at the time of his death was Geraldine Edwards, but she had no part of his estate and it is inappropriate to mention her without a more substantial reason. Ambrose filed suit for part of his estate but lost her case. After his death, the Palmer family lawyer demanded that Ambrose cease and desist from calling herself his girlfriend. I'm removing the mention of Ambrose. Nicmart (talk) 03:33, 21 October 2018 (UTC)

References

You're completely wrong. You have apparently been looking at terribly unreliable sources, while ignoring the big mainstream newspapers, all reporting Mary Ambrose as his girlfriend. The Edwards hoax is wishful thinking writ large across the internet, but with no basis in reality. Binksternet (talk) 13:34, 29 December 2018 (UTC)

Wives

Many unreliable sources say that Palmer was married twice: to Shelly Putnam and Susan Eileen Thatcher. This entry mentions only "Sue." There is also disagreement among sources as to where he met Sue, which is mentioned in the article. Can someone give Sue a full maiden name and provide definitive clarity to the number of wives? Nicmart (talk) 05:09, 21 October 2018 (UTC)

As far as is known, Palmer was only married once, to Sue (no further details publicly available, unless you want to search the British BMD records, which are primary sources and not Wikiable), whom he met on a railway platform at Slough in 1969 and married the following year. They had two children, James and Jane, born in 1978 and 1979. Most sources say they divorced in 1993. The Independent, in an interview conducted in Paris in 1999, said that according to Palmer the couple had split more than a decade before, but that is not necessarily incompatible with a 1993 divorce settlement. 'Shelly Putnam' or 'Putman' does not appear to exist and the supposed groupie 'Geraldine Edwards', though much touted by a crazyperson on the internet, may not exist either. Mary Ambrose does seem to exist, and was apparently Palmer's live-in assistant (a job description which often portends litigation where rich musicians and actors are concerned), but does not seem to have succeeded in her claim on Palmer's estate. The rather libellous-looking remarks made about Ambrose on various internet sites by the person who promotes 'Geraldine Edwards' (this person also makes various different, conflicting, obviously bogus and obviously slightly bonkers claims to acquaintance with Palmer), can probably be disregarded. Khamba Tendal (talk) 19:18, 24 October 2020 (UTC)

Palmer's entry in the ODNB was published in 2007, and confirms (citing his marriage cert) he married a Susan Eileen Thatcher on his 21st birthday in 1970. It also confirms they divorced in 1993. No other marriages mentioned. Crisso (talk) 19:51, 27 November 2023 (UTC)

Mary Ambrose

The personal section makes no mention of his partner of ten years, Mary Ambrose. I would also like to know if his estate has been settled. At the time of his death I believe he was still inlitigation with his ex-wife and Mary received nothing. ¬¬¬¬ — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ballyhackamore Bailiff (talk • contribs) 11:13, 23 November 2020 (UTC)

Brothers

Are carl and Robert Palmer brothers? 172.58.43.180 (talk) 15:57, 28 July 2022 (UTC)

In short, no. - Derek R Bullamore (talk) 21:47, 26 June 2024 (UTC)

Primary topic

I took a look at the article traffic statistics linked on Wikipedia:Disambiguation that are to be considered for primary topics. Looking at those, no other Robert Palmer even comes close to the amount of traffic and recognition of this one. He averages around 60 thousand pageviews a month since the earlierst possible tracking point, whereas the other Robert Palmers haven't even come remotely close to that, the closest averaging around 2.5 thousand pageviews. So my suggestion would be to move this page to "Robert Palmer" and to move the disambiguation to "Robert Palmer (disambiguation)".
CJ Melon (talk) 23:38, 17 October 2023 (UTC)

Dada

the link to Dada in the article links to the art movement and not the band. 32.214.67.78 (talk) 18:10, 3 January 2024 (UTC)

the link should direct here: "Vinegar Joe (band)" and not to the California trio "Dada" link. The two bands named Dada are not related. 32.214.67.78 (talk) 18:17, 3 January 2024 (UTC)