Dee Palmer (formerly David Palmer; born 2 July 1937) is an English composer, arranger, and keyboardist best known for having been a member of the

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

group Jethro Tull from 1976 to 1980 (although she had worked with the band as an arranger since their inception in 1967).

Early life and career

Palmer was born in

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the London Borough of Barnet, northwest London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient Manorialism, manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has ...

, London. She later studied composition at the Royal Academy of Music with Richard Rodney Bennett, winning the Eric Coates Prize and The Boosey and Hawkes Prize and during her studentship taught clarinet to second study students. She was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in 1994.

Jethro Tull

Going about her early career as a jobbing arranger and conductor of recording sessions, Palmer recorded her first album project, '' Nicola'', in 1967 with Bert Jansch. She was then referred to Terry Ellis, then manager of the early Jethro Tull, which was making its first album at Sound Techniques Studio in Chelsea, London. At short notice, Palmer came up with arrangements for the horns and strings on the Mick Abrahams composition, "Move on Alone" from the '' This Was'' album. This work and professional performance endeared her to the band and she was soon to visit them again, with a string quartet arrangement to "A Christmas Song". Palmer arranged string, brass, and woodwind parts for Jethro Tull songs in the late 1960s and early 1970s, before formally joining the group in 1976 and primarily playing electronic keyboard instruments. In 1980, leader

Ian Anderson Ian Scott Anderson (born 10 August 1947) is a British musician best known for being the chief vocalist, Flute, flautist, and acoustic guitarist of the British rock band Jethro Tull (band), Jethro Tull. He is a multi-instrumentalist who also p ...

intended to release the album '' A'' with other musicians as a solo project, but was persuaded by his

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

to release it instead under the Jethro Tull name. This resulted in every member of the group, including Palmer, leaving except guitarist Martin Barre and Anderson himself. Palmer formed a new group, Tallis, with former Jethro Tull pianist and organist John Evan. The new group was not commercially successful, and Palmer returned to film scoring and sessions.

Solo work

Beginning in the 1980s, Palmer produced several albums of orchestral arrangements of the music of various rock groups, including Jethro Tull,

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...

, Genesis, Yes,

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

and

Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

. In 2017, Palmer announced the release of her first solo album, ''Through Darkened Glass'', which was released in January 2018 and has the guest appearance of former band-mate Martin Barre. In August 2019, Palmer appeared, alongside Barre, at Fairport's Cropredy Convention.

Personal life

In 1998, Palmer came out as

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

and

intersex Intersex people are those born with any of several sex characteristics, including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical binar ...

, changing her name to Dee. Palmer was born with genital ambiguity, assigned male at birth, and underwent several surgeries, the last in her late twenties. Palmer said her

gender dysphoria Gender dysphoria (GD) is the distress a person experiences due to inconsistency between their gender identitytheir personal sense of their own genderand their sex assigned at birth. The term replaced the previous diagnostic label of gender i ...

had been a part of her life since she had been young, and that the dysphoria "started to reassert itself again" in the year following the death of her wife Maggie in 1995.

Discography

Solo

*''Through Darkened Glass'' (2018)

With Jethro Tull

;Providing orchestral arrangements: *'' This Was'' (1968) *'' Stand Up'' (1969) *'' Benefit'' (1970) *'' Aqualung'' (1971) *'' Thick as a Brick'' (1972) *'' A Passion Play'' (1973) *'' War Child'' (1974) *'' Minstrel in the Gallery'' (1975) *'' Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young to Die!'' (1976) ;As a full-time member: *'' Songs from the Wood'' (1977) *'' Heavy Horses'' (1978) *'' Bursting Out'' (1978 live album) *'' Stormwatch'' (1979) *'' Nightcap : The Unreleased Masters 1972–1991'' (1993) *'' Live at Madison Square Garden 1978'' (2009 DVD)

Symphonic arrangements

*'' A Classic Case'', also known as ''Classic Jethro Tull'' (1985) *''We Know What We Like: The Music of

Genesis (band) Genesis were an English rock music, rock band formed at Charterhouse School, in Godalming, Surrey, in 1967. The band's longest-lasting and most commercially successful line-up consisted of keyboardist Tony Banks (musician), Tony Banks, bassi ...

'' (the London Symphony Orchestra with David Palmer) (1987) *''Orchestral Maneuvers: The Music of

'' (1989) *'' Symphonic Music of Yes'', London Philharmonic Orchestra with Steve Howe and Bill Bruford (1993) *''Orchestral Sgt. Pepper's'' (version of

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

' album '' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'') (1994) *''Passing Open Windows: A Symphonic Tribute to

'' (1996) *''Norske popklassikere'' (the London Symphony Orchestra with David Palmer) (1996)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Palmer, Dee 1937 births Living people Fellows of the Royal Academy of Music English women composers English rock keyboardists British intersex women British intersex people Jethro Tull (band) members LGBTQ people from London Musicians from the London Borough of Barnet People from Hendon Transgender women musicians Transgender composers English LGBTQ composers Intersex musicians English transgender women Intersex transgender women