Earl Palmer
Encyclopedia
Earl Cyril Palmer was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 rock & roll and rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...

 drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...

, and member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...

.

Palmer played on many recording sessions, including Little Richard
Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman , known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, and actor, considered key in the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll in the 1950s. He was also the first artist to put the funk in the rock and roll beat and...

's first several albums and Tom Waits
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...

' 1978 album Blue Valentine. According to one obituary, "his list of credits read like a Who's Who of American popular music of the last 60 years".

Biography

Born into a showbusiness family in New Orleans and raised in the Tremé
Treme
Tremé is a neighborhood of the city of New Orleans. A subdistrict of the Mid-City District Area, its boundaries as defined by the City Planning Commission are Esplanade Avenue to the north, North Rampart Street to the east, St. Louis Street to the south and North Broad Street to the west...

 district, Palmer started his career at five as a tap dance
Tap dance
Tap dance is a form of dance characterized by using the sound of one's tap shoes hitting the floor as a percussive instrument. As such, it is also commonly considered to be a form of music. Two major variations on tap dance exist: rhythm tap and Broadway tap. Broadway tap focuses more on the...

r, joining his mother and aunt on the black vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...

 circuit in its twilight and touring the country extensively with Ida Cox
Ida Cox
Ida Cox was an African American singer and vaudeville performer, best known for her blues performances and recordings...

's Darktown Scandals Review. His father was thought to be local pianist and bandleader Walter "Fats" Pichon.

Palmer served in the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

 during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, eventually being posted in the European Theatre. His biographer states,
Most Negro recruits were assigned to noncombatant service troops: work gangs in uniform. "They didn't want no niggers carrying guns," says Earl; they carried shovels, and garbage cans instead. Earl's job, loading and handling ammunition was relatively technical, but his duty was clear: to serve white infantrymen.


After the war ended he studied piano and percussion at the Gruenwald School of Music in New Orleans, where he also learned to read music. He started drumming with the Dave Bartholomew
Dave Bartholomew
Dave Bartholomew is a musician, band leader, composer and arranger, prominent in the music of New Orleans throughout the second half of the 20th century...

 Band in the late 1940s. Palmer was known for playing on New Orleans recording sessions, including Fats Domino
Fats Domino
Antoine Dominique "Fats" Domino, Jr. is an American R&B and rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter. He was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Creole was his first language....

's "The Fat Man
The Fat Man (song)
"The Fat Man" is a rhythm and blues song co-written by Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew and recorded by Fats Domino. It is considered to be one of the first rock and roll records.-History:...

", "I'm Walkin" (and all the rest of Domino's hits), "Tipitina" by Professor Longhair
Professor Longhair
Professor Longhair was a New Orleans blues singer and pianist...

, "Tutti Frutti" by Little Richard
Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman , known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, and actor, considered key in the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll in the 1950s. He was also the first artist to put the funk in the rock and roll beat and...

 (and most of Richard's hits), "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" by Lloyd Price
Lloyd Price
Lloyd Price is an American R&B vocalist. Known as "Mr. Personality", after the name of one of his biggest million-selling hits...

, and "I Hear You Knockin'" by Smiley Lewis
Smiley Lewis
Smiley Lewis was an American New Orleans rhythm and blues musician. The journalist, Tony Russell, in his book The Blues - From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray, stated "Lewis was the unluckiest man in New Orleans...

.

His playing on "The Fat Man" featured the backbeat that has come to be the most important element in rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...

. Palmer said, "That song required a strong afterbeat throughout the whole piece. With Dixieland
Dixieland
Dixieland music, sometimes referred to as Hot jazz, Early Jazz or New Orleans jazz, is a style of jazz music which developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century, and was spread to Chicago and New York City by New Orleans bands in the 1910s.Well-known jazz standard songs from the...

 you had a strong afterbeat only after you got to the shout last
Last
A last is a form in the approximate shape of a human foot, used by shoemakers and cordwainers in the manufacture and repair of shoes. Lasts typically come in pairs, and throughout their history have been made from many materials, including hardwoods, cast iron, and, more recently, high density...

 chorus. . . . It was sort of a new approach to rhythm music." Reportedly, he was the first to use the word "funky", to explain to other musicians that their music should be made more syncopated and danceable.

Palmer left New Orleans for Hollywood in 1957, initially working for Aladdin Records
Aladdin Records (US)
Aladdin Records was a post-World War II United States record label, with headquarters in Hollywood, California. The label was founded in 1945 by brothers Eddie, Leo, and Ira Mesner and was originally called Philo Records, before changing to its better-known name in April 1946.Aladdin Records...

. For more than 30 years he was to play drums on the scores and soundtracks of many movies and television shows. His career as a session drummer included work with Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...

, Phil Spector
Phil Spector
Phillip Harvey "Phil" Spector is an American record producer and songwriter, later known for his conviction in the murder of actress Lana Clarkson....

, Rick Nelson, Bobby Vee, Ray Charles
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...

, Eddie Cochran
Eddie Cochran
Eddie Cochran , was an American rock and roll pioneer who in his brief career had a small but lasting influence on rock music through his guitar playing. Cochran's rockabilly songs, such as "C'mon Everybody", "Somethin' Else", and "Summertime Blues", captured teenage frustration and desire in the...

, Ritchie Valens
Ritchie Valens
Ritchie Valens was a Mexican-American singer, songwriter and guitarist....

, Bobby Day
Bobby Day
Bobby Day , was an early African American rock and roll and R&B musician.Born Robert James Byrd, , in Fort Worth, Texas, he moved to Los Angeles, California, at the age of 15...

, Don and Dewey
Don and Dewey
Don and Dewey were an American rock and roll duo, comprising Don "Sugarcane" Harris and Dewey Terry . Both were born and grew up in Pasadena, California....

, Jan and Dean
Jan and Dean
Jan and Dean were a rock and roll duo, popular from the late 1950s through the mid 1960s, consisting of William Jan Berry and Dean Ormsby Torrence...

, the Beach Boys, Larry Williams
Larry Williams
Larry Williams was an American rhythm and blues and rock and roll singer, songwriter, producer, and pianist from New Orleans, Louisiana...

, Gene McDaniels
Gene McDaniels
Gene McDaniels was an American singer and songwriter, who had his greatest recording success in the early 1960s.-Biography:...

, Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin , born Walden Robert Cassotto, was an American singer, actor and musician.Darin performed in a range of music genres, including pop, rock, jazz, folk and country...

, Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...

 and B. Bumble and the Stingers
B. Bumble and the Stingers
B. Bumble and the Stingers were an American instrumental ensemble in the early 1960s, who specialized in making rock and roll arrangements of classical melodies. Their biggest hits were "Bumble Boogie" and "Nut Rocker", which reached number 1 in the UK Singles Chart in 1962...

, as well as jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 sessions with Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...

, Earl Bostic
Earl Bostic
Earl Bostic was an American jazz and rhythm and blues alto saxophonist, and a pioneer of the post-war American Rhythm and Blues style. He had a number of popular hits such as "Flamingo", "Harlem Nocturne", "Temptation", "Sleep", "Special Delivery Stomp", and "Where or When", which showed off his...

 and Count Basie
Count Basie
William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...

, and appearing on blues recordings with B. B. King
B. B. King
Riley B. King , known by the stage name B.B. King, is an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter.Rolling Stone magazine ranked him at No.3 on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. According to Edward M...

. He was also in demand for TV and film scores.

Palmer played drums in a recording session with west-coast folk singer-songwriter Jim Sullivan around 1969 or 1970. The album was released twice with different audio mixes. On the Monnie Records album, "U.F.O.", Palmer's drumming can be clearly heard, but on the Century City Record, "Jim Sullivan" the drums, percussion and bass were moved back in the mix.

He remained in demand as a drummer throughout the 1970s and 1980s, playing on albums by Randy Newman
Randy Newman
Randall Stuart "Randy" Newman is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist who is known for his mordant pop songs and for film scores....

, Tom Waits
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...

, Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Lynn Raitt is an American blues singer-songwriter and a renowned slide guitar player. During the 1970s, Raitt released a series of acclaimed roots-influenced albums which incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk and country, but she is perhaps best known for her more commercially...

, Tim Buckley
Tim Buckley
Timothy Charles Buckley III was an American vocalist, and musician. His music and style changed considerably through the years; his first album was mostly folk oriented, but over time his music incorporated jazz, psychedelia, funk, soul, avant-garde and an evolving "voice as instrument," sound...

, Little Feat
Little Feat
Little Feat is an American rock band formed by singer-songwriter, lead vocalist and guitarist Lowell George and keyboardist Bill Payne in 1969 in Los Angeles....

 and Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...

.

In 1982, Palmer was elected treasurer of the Local 47 of the American Federation of Musicians. He served until he was defeated in 1984 and was re-elected in 1990.

His biography, Backbeat: the Earl Palmer Story, written by Tony Scherman, was published in 1999. In 2000, he became one of the first session musicians to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...

. In recent years, he played with a jazz trio in Los Angeles.

Palmer died in September 2008, in Banning, California
Banning, California
-2010:The 2010 United States Census reported that Banning had a population of 29,603. The population density was 1,281.6 people per square mile . The racial makeup of Banning was 19,164 White, 2,165 African American, 641 Native American, 1,549 Asian, 39 Pacific Islander, 4,604 from other...

, after a long illness.

Personal life

He married four times, and had seven children: Earl Cyril Palmer, Jr., Donald Alfred Palmer, Ronald Raymond Palmer and Patricia Ann Palmer from his marriage to Catherine Palmer; Shelly Margaret Palmer and Pamela Teresa Palmer from his marriage to Susan Joy Weidenpesch; and Penny Yasuko Palmer from his marriage to Yumiko Makino.

Quotations

  • "You could always tell a New Orleans drummer the minute you heard him play his bass drum because he'd have that parade beat connotation." --Earl Palmer.
  • Late in his career, Palmer appeared in a music video
    Music video
    A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

     with Cracker
    Cracker (band)
    Cracker is an American alternative rock band featuring founders/songwriters singer David Lowery and guitarist Johnny Hickman. They are best known for their platinum-selling 1993 album, Kerosene Hat, featuring the hit songs "Low", "Euro-Trash Girl", and "Get Off This".Founders Lowery and Hickman...

     on the song "I hate my generation". As Addicted to Noise
    Addicted to Noise
    Addicted to Noise was an online music magazine in the early days of the World Wide Web. Founded by ex-Rolling Stone editor and writer Michael Goldberg and online music pioneer Jon Luini, it published its first issue in January 1995 and was the first online magazine to include audio samples along...

    tells the story:"According to Cracker leader David Lowery
    David Lowery
    David Lowery is an American guitarist, vocalist and songwriter; he is the founder of alternative rock band, Camper Van Beethoven, and co-founder of the more traditional rock band, Cracker...

    , when Palmer was asked if he would be able to play along with the songs, he gave Lowery a look and said, 'I invented this shit.'"
  • "I've been asked if people could borrow my drums because they like their sound. What the hell, they think the drums play themselves? I said, 'You really want 'em? Really? Okay. Cost you triple scale and cartage.'"
  • When asked by Max Weinberg
    Max Weinberg
    Max Weinberg is an American drummer and television personality, most widely known as the longtime drummer for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band and as the bandleader for Conan O'Brien on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien.Weinberg grew up in suburban New Jersey...

     what more of the recording sessions he'd played on Palmer replied:
Don't ask me which ones I played on.. I should have done like Hal
Hal Blaine
Hal Blaine is an American drummer and session musician. He is most known for his work with the Wrecking Crew in California. Blaine played on numerous hits by popular groups, including Elvis Presley, John Denver, the Ronettes, Simon & Garfunkel, the Carpenters, the Beach Boys, Nancy Sinatra, and...

. Hal used to get gold records for all the things he played on. I never did that, you know. I would like to have a room with all those things in them. It would have been nice - show my grandchildren when they grow up so they don't say, 'Oh shut up old man and sit down.' I could just say, 'Look. I don't have to tell you nothing. There it is.'

As leader

  • Drumsville (Liberty Records
    Liberty Records
    Liberty Records was a United States-based record label. It was started by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Al Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous revivals.-1950s:...

    , 1961)
  • Percolator Twist (Liberty Records
    Liberty Records
    Liberty Records was a United States-based record label. It was started by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Al Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous revivals.-1950s:...

    , 1962)

As sideman

Albums
  • Here's Little Richard
    Here's Little Richard
    Here's Little Richard is the debut album from Little Richard, released on March 1957. He had scored six Top 40 hits the previous year, some of which were included on this recording. It was his highest charting album, at 13 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart. In 2003, the album was ranked number 50...

    - Little Richard
    Little Richard
    Richard Wayne Penniman , known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, and actor, considered key in the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll in the 1950s. He was also the first artist to put the funk in the rock and roll beat and...

     (1957)
  • Swinging Flute in Hi-Fi - The Strollers (1958)
  • The Fabulous Little Richard
    The Fabulous Little Richard
    The Fabulous Little Richard was the third album from Little Richard, and the end of his rock and roll period. Released seventeen months after he had left the Specialty Records label, Richard had returned to religion and turned his back on the music that made him famous...

    - Little Richard
    Little Richard
    Richard Wayne Penniman , known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, and actor, considered key in the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll in the 1950s. He was also the first artist to put the funk in the rock and roll beat and...

     (1959)
  • Sinatra and Swingin' Brass
    Sinatra and Swingin' Brass
    Sinatra And Swingin' Brass is a 1962 studio album by Frank Sinatra.This is the first time Sinatra worked with arranger/composer Neal Hefti...

    - Frank Sinatra
    Frank Sinatra
    Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...

     (1962)
  • The Astounding 12-String Guitar of Glen Campbell
    The Astounding 12-String Guitar of Glen Campbell
    The Astounding 12-String Guitar of Glen Campbell is the 3rd album by American singer/guitarist Glen Campbell, released in 1964 .-Track listing:Side 1:# "Lonesome Twelve" - 2:30...

    - Glen Campbell
    Glen Campbell
    Glen Travis Campbell is an American country music singer, guitarist, television host and occasional actor. He is best known for a series of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as for hosting a variety show called The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS television.During his 50 years in show...

     (1964)
  • Accent on Africa - Cannonball Adderley (1968)
  • The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees
    The Birds, The Bees & the Monkees
    The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees is the fifth studio album by The Monkees released in April 1968. The first Monkees album not to reach Billboard's number one, instead charting at number three and eventually selling over a million copies.-History:...

     - The Monkees
    The Monkees
    The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...

     (1968)
  • Head - The Monkees
    The Monkees
    The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...

     (1968)
  • U.F.O. - Jim Sullivan (1969)
  • People Like Us - The Mamas & the Papas
    The Mamas & the Papas
    The Mamas & the Papas were a Canadian/American vocal group of the 1960s . The group recorded and performed from 1965 to 1968 with a short reunion in 1971, releasing five albums and 11 Top 40 hit singles...

     (1971)
  • Look at the Fool
    Look at the Fool
    Look at the Fool is the ninth and last album by singer-songwriter Tim Buckley before his death in 1975 and was recorded at Wally-Heider Sound Studios & Record Plant in Los Angeles, California.-Track listing:...

    - Tim Buckley
    Tim Buckley
    Timothy Charles Buckley III was an American vocalist, and musician. His music and style changed considerably through the years; his first album was mostly folk oriented, but over time his music incorporated jazz, psychedelia, funk, soul, avant-garde and an evolving "voice as instrument," sound...

     (1974)
  • King of America
    King of America
    King of America is the tenth studio album by the British rock singer and songwriter Elvis Costello, released in 1986 in the United Kingdom as F-Beat ZL 70946, and in the United States as Columbia JC 40173. It was billed as by "The Costello Show featuring the Attractions and Confederates" in the UK...

    - Elvis Costello
    Elvis Costello
    Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...

     (1986)
  • The Ultimate School of Rock & Roll
    The Ultimate School of Rock & Roll
    The Ultimate School Of Rock & Roll is a 32-track CD by Gene Summers. It is a compilation of his biggest hits including out-takes and alternate tracks. The CD was released nationally in the United States by Crystal Clear Sound Records in 1997 and is still in print...

    - Gene Summers
    Gene Summers
    Gene Summers is an American rock/rockabilly singer and entertainer. Some of his classic recordings include "School of Rock 'n Roll", "Straight Skirt", "Nervous", "Gotta Lotta That", "Twixteen", "Alabama Shake" and his biggest-selling single "Big Blue Diamonds"...

     (1997)
  • Seasons in the Sun (Unreleased) - The Beach Boys
    The Beach Boys
    The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...

  • Ins and Outs - Lalo Schifrin
    Lalo Schifrin
    Lalo Schifrin is an Argentine composer, pianist and conductor. He is best known for his film and TV scores, such as the "Theme from Mission: Impossible". He has received four Grammy Awards and six Oscar nominations...



Singles
  • The Fat Man
    The Fat Man (song)
    "The Fat Man" is a rhythm and blues song co-written by Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew and recorded by Fats Domino. It is considered to be one of the first rock and roll records.-History:...

     - Fats Domino
    Fats Domino
    Antoine Dominique "Fats" Domino, Jr. is an American R&B and rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter. He was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Creole was his first language....

     (1949)
  • Lawdy Miss Clawdy
    Lawdy Miss Clawdy
    "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" is a song by Lloyd Price. It was first recorded by Price at the New Orleans recording studio of Specialty Records in March 1952. It was released under the Specialty label in April and was number one on the Billboard rhythm and blues chart for seven weeks and stayed on the chart...

     - Lloyd Price
    Lloyd Price
    Lloyd Price is an American R&B vocalist. Known as "Mr. Personality", after the name of one of his biggest million-selling hits...

     (1952)
  • Blue Monday
    Blue Monday (Fats Domino song)
    "Blue Monday" is a song originally written by Dave Bartholomew, and first recorded by Smiley Lewis in 1954.It was later popularized in a recording by Fats Domino in 1956, on Imperial Records , on which the songwriting credit was shared between Bartholomew and Domino. Most later versions have...

     - I'm Walkin'
    I'm Walkin'
    "I'm Walkin" is a 1957 single by Fats Domino. The song was written by Domino and Dave Bartholomew.The single was Fats Domino's third release in a row to reach number one on the R&B Best Sellers chart, where it stayed for six weeks...

     - Fats Domino
    Fats Domino
    Antoine Dominique "Fats" Domino, Jr. is an American R&B and rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter. He was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Creole was his first language....

  • The Girl Can't Help It
    The Girl Can't Help It
    The Girl Can't Help It is a 1956 comedy musical film starring Jayne Mansfield, Tom Ewell, and Edmond O'Brien. It was produced and directed by Frank Tashlin, with a screenplay adapted by Tashlin and Herbert Baker from an uncredited novel Do Re Me by Garson Kanin...

     - Little Richard
    Little Richard
    Richard Wayne Penniman , known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, and actor, considered key in the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll in the 1950s. He was also the first artist to put the funk in the rock and roll beat and...

     (1956)
  • "Busy, Busy", "My Heaven" - Dan Bowden (1958)
  • Donna
    Donna (song)
    "Donna" is a song written and sung by Ritchie Valens featuring the 50s progression. The song was released in 1958 on Del-Fi Records. It reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart the following year, becoming Valens' highest-charting single. The song was covered by another Del-Fi artist and western...

     - Ritchie Valens
    Ritchie Valens
    Ritchie Valens was a Mexican-American singer, songwriter and guitarist....

     (1958)
  • Summertime Blues
    Summertime Blues
    "Summertime Blues" is the title of a song co-written and recorded by American rockabilly artist Eddie Cochran. It was written in the late 1950s by Cochran and his manager Jerry Capehart. Originally a single B-side, it was released in August 1958 and peaked at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 on...

    - Eddie Cochran
    Eddie Cochran
    Eddie Cochran , was an American rock and roll pioneer who in his brief career had a small but lasting influence on rock music through his guitar playing. Cochran's rockabilly songs, such as "C'mon Everybody", "Somethin' Else", and "Summertime Blues", captured teenage frustration and desire in the...

      (1958)
  • "Slow Down", "Dizzy Miss Lizzy
    Dizzy Miss Lizzy
    "Dizzy, Miss Lizzy" is a song composed and sung by Larry Williams in 1958. It shares many similarities with the Little Richard song "Good Golly Miss Molly".-Cover versions:...

    ", "Bony Moronie
    Bony Moronie
    "Bony Moronie" is Larry Williams' third single, which has been covered many times, including a version translated into Spanish re-named "Popotitos". Williams' original peaked at #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #4 on the U.S...

    " - Larry Williams
    Larry Williams
    Larry Williams was an American rhythm and blues and rock and roll singer, songwriter, producer, and pianist from New Orleans, Louisiana...

     (1958)
  • "Polly Molly", "Forever And A Day" - 5 Masks (1958)
  • "Patricia Darling", "Whatta You Do" - Ray Willis (1958)
  • Rockin' Robin
    Rockin' Robin (song)
    This article is about the song. For the wrestler, see Rockin' Robin ."Rockin' Robin" is a song written by Leon René under the pseudonym Jimmie Thomas and recorded by Bobby Day in 1958. It was Day's only hit single, becoming a number-two hit on the Billboard Hot 100...

     - Bobby Day
    Bobby Day
    Bobby Day , was an early African American rock and roll and R&B musician.Born Robert James Byrd, , in Fort Worth, Texas, he moved to Los Angeles, California, at the age of 15...

     (1958)
  • Nervous
    Nervous (song)
    "Nervous" is a rockabilly/doo-wop song first recorded by Gene Summers and His Rebels in 1958 and later covered by Robert Gordon and Link Wray, among others. It was composed by Mary Tarver in 1957, published by Ted Music, BMI and issued on Jan/Jane Records...

    , Gene Summers
    Gene Summers
    Gene Summers is an American rock/rockabilly singer and entertainer. Some of his classic recordings include "School of Rock 'n Roll", "Straight Skirt", "Nervous", "Gotta Lotta That", "Twixteen", "Alabama Shake" and his biggest-selling single "Big Blue Diamonds"...

     (1958)
  • Gotta Lotta That
    Gotta Lotta That
    "Gotta Lotta That" is a song written by Bernice Bedwell in 1958 and published by Song Productions, BMI. It was first recorded by Gene Summers and His Rebels in 1958 and issued by Jan/Jane Records...

    , Gene Summers
    Gene Summers
    Gene Summers is an American rock/rockabilly singer and entertainer. Some of his classic recordings include "School of Rock 'n Roll", "Straight Skirt", "Nervous", "Gotta Lotta That", "Twixteen", "Alabama Shake" and his biggest-selling single "Big Blue Diamonds"...

     (1958)
  • Twixteen
    Twixteen
    "Twixteen" is a song written by Mary Tarver in 1958 and published by Ted Music, BMI. It was first recorded by Gene Summers and His Rebels in 1958 and issued by Jan/Jane Records...

    , Gene Summers
    Gene Summers
    Gene Summers is an American rock/rockabilly singer and entertainer. Some of his classic recordings include "School of Rock 'n Roll", "Straight Skirt", "Nervous", "Gotta Lotta That", "Twixteen", "Alabama Shake" and his biggest-selling single "Big Blue Diamonds"...

     (1958)
  • "Crazy Cat Corner" - Gene Summers
    Gene Summers
    Gene Summers is an American rock/rockabilly singer and entertainer. Some of his classic recordings include "School of Rock 'n Roll", "Straight Skirt", "Nervous", "Gotta Lotta That", "Twixteen", "Alabama Shake" and his biggest-selling single "Big Blue Diamonds"...

     (1958)
  • La Bamba
    La Bamba (song)
    "La Bamba" is a Mexican folk song, originally from the state of Veracruz, best known from a 1958 adaptation by Ritchie Valens, a top 40 hit in the U.S. charts and one of early rock and roll's best-known songs...

     - Ritchie Valens
    Ritchie Valens
    Ritchie Valens was a Mexican-American singer, songwriter and guitarist....

     (1959)
  • Walking to New Orleans
    Walking to New Orleans
    Walking to New Orleans is a 1960 song by Bobby Charles, written for and recorded by Fats Domino.Domino was a hero of Charles. Domino had previously recorded the Charles tune "Before I Grow Too Old"...

     - Fats Domino
    Fats Domino
    Antoine Dominique "Fats" Domino, Jr. is an American R&B and rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter. He was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Creole was his first language....

     (1960)
  • The Lonely Bull
    The Lonely Bull
    The Lonely Bull, released in 1962, is the debut album from Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, and was also the first album ever released by A&M Records - which was co-founded by Alpert and Jerry Moss...

     - Herb Alpert
    Herb Alpert
    Herbert "Herb" Alpert is an American musician most associated with the group variously known as Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass, or TJB. He is also a recording industry executive — he is the "A" of A&M Records...

     (1962)
  • "High Flyin' Bird" - Judy Henske
    Judy Henske
    Judy Henske is an American singer and songwriter, once known as "the Queen of the Beatniks".-Life and recording career:...

     (1963)
  • "Please Let Me Love You" - The Beefeaters (who later became the Byrds
    The Byrds
    The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...

    ) (1964)
  • The Little Old Lady from Pasadena
    The Little Old Lady from Pasadena
    "The Little Old Lady from Pasadena" is a song written by Don Altfeld, Jan Berry and Roger Christian, and recorded by 1960s American pop singers, Jan and Dean. The song reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1964...

     - Jan and Dean
    Jan and Dean
    Jan and Dean were a rock and roll duo, popular from the late 1950s through the mid 1960s, consisting of William Jan Berry and Dean Ormsby Torrence...

     (1964)
  • Dead Man's Curve
    Dead Man's Curve (song)
    "Dead Man's Curve" is a 1964 hit song by Jan and Dean detailing a teen street race gone awry. It reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart....

     - Jan and Dean
    Jan and Dean
    Jan and Dean were a rock and roll duo, popular from the late 1950s through the mid 1960s, consisting of William Jan Berry and Dean Ormsby Torrence...

     (1964)
  • You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'
    You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'
    "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin" is a 1964 song by The Righteous Brothers which became a number-one hit single in the United States and the United Kingdom the following year. In 1999, the performing-rights organization Broadcast Music, Inc. ranked the song as having had more radio and television...

     - The Righteous Brothers
    The Righteous Brothers
    The Righteous Brothers were the musical duo of Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield. They recorded from 1963 through 1975, and continued to perform until Hatfield's death in 2003...

     (1964)
  • Please Let Me Wonder
    Please Let Me Wonder
    "Please Let Me Wonder" is a song written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love for American rock band The Beach Boys.The song was the B-side of the single "Do You Wanna Dance?" which was released by The Beach Boys in 1965 through Capitol Records.-Information:...

     - The Beach Boys
    The Beach Boys
    The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...

     (1965)
  • Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me
    Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me
    "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me" was released as single from Gloria Estefan's fourth solo-credited studio album Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me.-Formats and track listings:Europe CD Maxi Single ...

     - Mel Carter
    Mel Carter
    Mel Carter is an American singer and actor. He is best known for his 1965 million selling recording, "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me".-Biography:Carter recorded for Sam Cooke's SAR record label in the early 1960s...

     (1965)
  • River Deep - Mountain High
    River Deep - Mountain High
    "River Deep – Mountain High" is a 1966 single by Ike & Tina Turner. Considered by producer Phil Spector to be his best work, the single was successful in Europe, peaking at #3 in the United Kingdom, though it flopped on its original release in the United States...

     - Ike & Tina Turner
    Ike & Tina Turner
    Ike & Tina Turner were an American rock & roll and soul duo, made of the husband-and-wife team of Ike Turner and Tina Turner in the 1960s and 1970s. Spanning sixteen years together as a recording group, the duo's repertoire included rock & roll, soul, blues and funk...

     - (1966)
  • "We Were Made for Each Other" - The Monkees
    The Monkees
    The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...

     (1968)
  • I'll Be Back Up On My Feet
    I'll Be Back Up On My Feet
    "I'll Be Back Up on My Feet" is a song by Sandy Linzer and Denny Randell, which was recorded by The Monkees during the 1960s.The first Monkees version of the song was recorded on October 26, 1966, during the period when the band did not perform their own instruments as much on their recordings...

     - The Monkees
    The Monkees
    The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...

     (1968)
  • "Magnolia Simms" - The Monkees
    The Monkees
    The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...

     (1968)
  • "Whistlin' Past the Graveyard" - Tom Waits
    Tom Waits
    Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...

     - (1978)
  • "Sweet Little Bullet From a Pretty Blue Gun" - Tom Waits
    Tom Waits
    Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...

     - (1978)

Film scores

Palmer was the session drummer for a number of film score
Film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...

s, including:

1961
Judgement at Nuremberg, score by Ernest Gold

1963
Hud
Hud (film)
Hud is a 1963 western film whose title character is an embittered and selfish modern-day cowboy. With screenplay by Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank, Jr., based on Larry McMurtry's 1961 novel Horseman, Pass By, it was directed by Martin Ritt and stars Paul Newman, Melvyn Douglas, Patricia Neal and...

, score by Elmer Bernstein
Elmer Bernstein
Elmer Bernstein was an American composer and conductor best known for his many film scores. In a career which spanned fifty years, he composed music for hundreds of film and television productions...

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is a 1963 American comedy film produced and directed by Stanley Kramer about the madcap pursuit of $350,000 in stolen cash by a diverse and colorful group of strangers...

, score by Ernest Gold

1964
Baby the Rain Must Fall
Baby the Rain Must Fall
Baby the Rain Must Fall is a 1965 American drama film starring Steve McQueen, directed by Robert Mulligan. Dramatist Horton Foote, who wrote the screenplay, based it on his play The Travelling Lady.-Plot:...

, score by Elmer Bernstein
Elmer Bernstein
Elmer Bernstein was an American composer and conductor best known for his many film scores. In a career which spanned fifty years, he composed music for hundreds of film and television productions...

Ride the Wild Surf
Ride the Wild Surf
Ride the Wild Surf is romantic drama in the beach party style. It was filmed in 1963 and distributed in 1964. Unlike most films in the genre, it is known for its exceptional big wave surf footage – a common sight in surf movies of the time, but a rarity in beach party films...

 score by Stu Phillips
Robin and the Seven Hoods, score by Nelson Riddle
Nelson Riddle
Nelson Smock Riddle, Jr. was an American arranger, composer, bandleader and orchestrator whose career stretched from the late 1940s to the mid 1980s...


1965
Boeing Boeing, score by Neal Hefti
Neal Hefti
Neal Hefti was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, tune writer, and arranger. He was perhaps best known for composing the theme music for the Batman television series of the 1960s, and for scoring the 1968 film The Odd Couple and the subsequent TV series of the same name.He began arranging...

Harlow
Harlow
Harlow is a new town and local government district in Essex, England. It is located in the west of the county and on the border with Hertfordshire, on the Stort Valley, The town is near the M11 motorway and forms part of the London commuter belt.The district has a current population of 78,889...

, score by Neal Hefti
Neal Hefti
Neal Hefti was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, tune writer, and arranger. He was perhaps best known for composing the theme music for the Batman television series of the 1960s, and for scoring the 1968 film The Odd Couple and the subsequent TV series of the same name.He began arranging...

How to Stuff a Wild Bikini
How to Stuff a Wild Bikini
How to Stuff a Wild Bikini is a 1965 beach party film from American International Pictures. The sixth entry in a seven-film series, the movie features Mickey Rooney, Annette Funicello, Dwayne Hickman, Brian Donlevy, and Beverly Adams...

, score by Les Baxter
Les Baxter
Les Baxter was an American musician and composer.Baxter studied piano at the Detroit Conservatory before moving to Los Angeles for further studies at Pepperdine College. Abandoning a concert career as a pianist, he turned to popular music as a singer...

A Patch of Blue
A Patch of Blue
A Patch of Blue is a 1965 American drama film directed by Guy Green about the relationship between a black man, Gordon , and a blind white female teenager, Selina , and the problems that plague their relationship when they fall in love in a racially divided America...

, score by Jerry Goldsmith
Jerry Goldsmith
Jerrald King Goldsmith was an American composer and conductor most known for his work in film and television scoring....


1967
Pretty Polly
Pretty Polly (film)
Pretty Polly, also known as A Matter of Innocence, is a 1967 British film, directed by Guy Green and based on the short story, Pretty Polly Barlow, by Noël Coward. It stars Hayley Mills, Shashi Kapoor, Trevor Howard, Brenda De Banzie...

, score by Michel Legrand
Michel Legrand
Michel Jean Legrand is a French musical composer, arranger, conductor, and pianist...

Cool Hand Luke
Cool Hand Luke
Cool Hand Luke is a 1967 American prison drama film directed by Stuart Rosenberg and starring Paul Newman. The screenplay was adapted by Donn Pearce and Frank Pierson from Pearce's 1965 novel of the same name. The film features George Kennedy, Strother Martin, J.D...

, score by Lalo Schifrin
Lalo Schifrin
Lalo Schifrin is an Argentine composer, pianist and conductor. He is best known for his film and TV scores, such as the "Theme from Mission: Impossible". He has received four Grammy Awards and six Oscar nominations...

In the Heat of the Night, score by Quincy Jones
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...


1968
A Dandy in Aspic
A Dandy in Aspic
A Dandy in Aspic is a 1968 British spy film, directed by Anthony Mann, based on the novel of the same name by Derek Marlowe and starring Laurence Harvey, Tom Courtenay and Mia Farrow....

, score by Quincy Jones
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...


Television scores

Palmer was also the session drummer for a number of television show themes and soundtracks, including:
  • Flintstones Theme Song
    The Flintstones
    The Flintstones is an animated, prime-time American television sitcom that screened from September 30, 1960 to April 1, 1966, on ABC. Produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, The Flintstones was about a working class Stone Age man's life with his family and his next-door neighbor and best friend. It...

  • M Squad
    M Squad
    M Squad is an American police drama television series that ran from 1957 to 1960 on NBC. Its format would later inspire the creation of spoof TV show Police Squad! Its sponsor was the Pall Mall cigarette brand; Lee Marvin, the program's star, appeared in its commercials during the...

  • 77 Sunset Strip
    77 Sunset Strip
    77 Sunset Strip is an hour-length American television private detective series created by Roy Huggins and starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Roger Smith, and Edd Byrnes....

  • Bourbon Street Beat
    Bourbon Street Beat
    Bourbon Street Beat is a private detective series which aired on the ABC network from 1959-1960 and featured Andrew Duggan as Cal Calhoun, Richard Long as Rex Randolph, Van Williams as Kenny Madison, and Arlene Howell as Melody Lee Mercer, the secretary at the New Orleans detective agency in which...

  • Hawaiian Eye
    Hawaiian Eye
    Hawaiian Eye is an American television series that ran from October 1959 to September 1963 on the American Broadcasting Company television network.-Premise:...

  • Peyton Place
    Peyton Place (TV series)
    Peyton Place is an American prime-time soap opera which aired on ABC in half-hour episodes from September 15, 1964 to June 2, 1969.Based upon the 1956 novel of the same name by Grace Metalious, the series was preceded by a 1957 film adaptation. A total of 514 episodes were broadcast, in...

  • I Dream of Jeannie
    I Dream of Jeannie
    I Dream of Jeannie is a 1960s American sitcom with a fantasy premise. The show starred Barbara Eden as a 2,000-year-old genie, and Larry Hagman as an astronaut who becomes her master, with whom she falls in love and eventually marries...

  • Green Acres
    Green Acres
    Green Acres is an American television series starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor as a couple who move from New York City to a country farm...

  • Ironside
    Ironside (TV series)
    Ironside is a Universal television series which ran on NBC from September 14, 1967 to January 16, 1975. The show starred Raymond Burr as the wheelchair-using Chief of Detectives, Robert T. Ironside. The character's debut was in a TV-movie on March 28, 1967. The original title of the show in the...

  • The Outsider
  • It Takes a Thief
  • The Leslie Uggams Show
    The Leslie Uggams Show
    The Leslie Uggams Show is an American variety television series starring actress/singer Leslie Uggams. The series aired on CBS as part of its 1969 fall lineup, and was the second variety series to feature an African American host since 1956's The Nat King Cole Show.-Synopsis:The Leslie Uggams Show...

  • The Brady Bunch
    The Brady Bunch
    The Brady Bunch is an American sitcom created by Sherwood Schwartz and starring Robert Reed, Florence Henderson, and Ann B. Davis. The series revolved around a large blended family...

  • Delta
    Delta (TV series)
    Delta is a short-lived U.S television sitcom series produced by ABC starring Delta Burke. Burke plays a woman who leaves her life behind to pursue her dream as a country music singer...

  • The Partridge Family
    The Partridge Family
    The Partridge Family is an American television sitcom about a widowed mother and her five children who embark on a music career. The series originally ran from September 25, 1970 until August 31, 1974, the last new episode airing on March 23, 1974, on the ABC network, as part of a Friday-night lineup...

  • The Odd Couple
    The Odd Couple
    The Odd Couple is a 1965 Broadway play by Neil Simon, followed by a successful film and television series, as well as other derivative works and spin offs, many featuring one or more of the same actors. The plot concerns two mismatched roommates, one neat and uptight, the other more easygoing and...

  • The Pearl Bailey
    Pearl Bailey
    Pearl Mae Bailey was an American actress and singer. After appearing in vaudeville, she made her Broadway debut in St. Louis Woman in 1946. She won a Tony Award for the title role in the all-black production of Hello, Dolly! in 1968...

     Show
  • M.A.S.H.
  • The Midnight Special
    The Midnight Special (TV series)
    The Midnight Special is an American musical variety series that aired on NBC during the 1970s and early 1980s, created and produced by Burt Sugarman. It premiered as a special on August 19, 1972, then began its run as a regular series on February 2, 1973; its last episode was on May 1, 1981...

  • Mannix
    Mannix
    Mannix is an American television detective series that ran from 1967 through 1975 on CBS. Created by Richard Levinson and William Link and developed by executive producer Bruce Geller, the title character, Joe Mannix, is a private investigator. He is played by Mike Connors...

  • Mission: Impossible
    Mission: Impossible
    Mission: Impossible is an American television series which was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicled the missions of a team of secret American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force . The leader of the team was Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, except in...


External links

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