Holly Palmer

Born in California, Holly Palmer spent her formative years between Santa Monica and Seattle, where high school performances of Sarah Vaughan and Nancy Wilson standards became routine. A scholarship took her to Berklee College Of Music in Boston, by which point pop music had regained its hold and she was frequently performing at spontaneous rock shows. Once she left Berklee she maintained an on-and-off presence in New York rock bands while occasionally revisiting jazz material. A 1993 development deal with Island Records never advanced to a full release, yet her work eventually reached Sue Drew at Reprise Records, leading to the 1996 appearance of her self-titled debut. Speaking later to Billboard, she explained her determination after earlier industry encounters: “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.” Kenny White, whose résumé includes Shawn Colvin and Marc Cohn, shared production duties. Meshell Ndegéocello contributed bass to the album’s strongest cut, “Lickerish Man,” while Bill Frisell and John Leventhal supplied guitar.

The Reprise association proved unsatisfying, prompting Palmer to depart with the masters of two unfinished projects. In the same period she collaborated with David Bowie on both his “…hours” album and its accompanying world tour. Entering the early 2000s she established the Bombshell imprint to issue her own recordings and began exploring a more current palette rooted in soul and hip-hop. The resulting 2004 release I Confess benefited from contributions by Dr. Dre, Don Was, and Billy Preston; although her own songs stood out, an especially affecting version of the Supremes’ “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” emerged as the centerpiece. Tender Hooks followed soon afterward, drawing on late-1990s sessions with Howie B. that Reprise had declined to issue. The collection formed a stylistic link between the alternative-folk character of her first album and the rhythm-driven approach of I Confess.