Jethro Tull announce death of former arranger and keyboardist Dee Palmer
Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson has confirmed the death of the band’s former arranger and keyboardist Dee Palmer.
Palmer, who was 88, began working with Jethro Tull in the late 1960s, contributing to every album by the band from 1968’s This Was to 1979’s Stormwatch.
In addition to her work with Jethro Tull, Palmer, who was born in Hendon in 1937, studied at the Royal Academy of Music and was appointed a Fellow Of The Royal Academy of Music in 1994. Born David Palmer, the musician transitioned to Dee following the death of wife Maggie in the 1990s.
She also collaborated with Bert Jansch, as well as creating orchestral re-arrangements for bands such as Genesis, Yes and Queen.
Paying tribute to Palmer, Anderson wrote, “We learned today of the sad passing of former Tull member Dee Palmer, who died at home in Shropshire, supported by some family members at the bedside.”
The Jethro Tull leader continued, “Dee had not been well during the last couple of years but last time we spoke earlier in the year, was still planning to record with an orchestra the music score of the ballet The Water’s Edge, which Dee, Martin Barre and I had written for performances by the Scottish Ballet in 1979.”
He then explained that he “had agreed to play flute on the new recording and assumed it was delayed but still on the cards.”
Reflecting on the start of their collaborative relationship, Anderson recalled, “Dee first had written brass section parts and conducted them on the track Move On Alone, written by Mick Abrahams, for our first album This Was back in 1968.”
Anderson added, “A few months later, I asked him to come up with the lovely string quartet arrangement for A Christmas Song, which was released on the B-side of our single Love Story in November 1969.”
The veteran musician explained how Palmer’s role prospered “in the arranger and conductor role”, which later grew into their “second keyboard player covering all the string parts on electronic keyboards from 1976 until 1980.”
Anderson concluded his eulogy by sharing, “My own favourite personal memories are mostly of the pipe-smoking, deep-voiced and creative co-conspirator with whom I enjoyed many a hot curry and a good blether under billowing clouds of St Bruno flake.”
Palmer is survived by her four children.
No cause of death has been confirmed.
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