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Del Palmer, Kate Bush’s longtime bass player and engineer, has died

1952-2024

By Paul Sinclair

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15

SDE’s Paul Sinclair with Del Palmer in 2016

Del Palmer, who played bass on virtually all of Kate Bush’s albums – and was romantically involved with Kate for a long time – died yesterday, his family have announced.

Del was there from the very beginning, playing the pub circuit with Kate as part of the KT Bush Band in 1977 and from Lionheart onwards he contributed to all her albums in some way, shape or form. He played bass on most of them and engineered them all from 1985’s Hounds of Love onwards.

Despite the the end of their personal relationship in the early 1990s, Kate stayed loyal to Del and he recorded/engineered later albums such as 2005’s Aerial and what is Kate’s most recent album, 2011’s 50 Words For Snow. Del also played bass on songs on of those both albums.

In return, Palmer was fiercely loyal to Kate as well, and while he made a rare on-screen contribution to the 2014 BBC documentary The Kate Bush Story – Running Up That Hill, he mostly refused interview requests to discuss his work with Kate, including from this writer! But I did meet Del in 2016 (as you can see from the photo above) and he was a sweet and charming man.

Palmer recorded three solo albums in the last 15 years or so and made a surprise appearance at the London’s Islington Assembly Halls in 2018, joining Kate Bush tribute act Cloudbusting on stage for a track or two. He later played with them on a few other occasions.

Del Palmer is also the only man to appear on the cover of a Kate Bush album. He’s ‘Houdini’ on the front of 1982’s The Dreaming and is about to be “passed the key” by Kate.

On her website Kate Bush called Del “a brilliant musician, bass player, a great artist” and said “I’m going to miss him terribly”.

Del Palmer died aged 71. Condolences to family and friends.

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15 Comments

15 thoughts on “Del Palmer, Kate Bush’s longtime bass player and engineer, has died”

  1. I just saw this message on Kate’s website about Del Palmer……

    Tree of Life by Del Palmer – Image
    Del
    Posted on January 10, 2024
    It’s hard to know what to say… He was a big part of my life and my work for many years.

    It’s going to take a long time to come to terms with him not being here with us.

    He was incredibly creative – talented in lots of different ways. He was a brilliant musician, bass player, a great artist – he was always drawing. Once he covered a whole recording consul in cartoons. It took him days and it looked absolutely stunning.

    He taught himself to be a recording engineer, engineering several of my albums and later releasing his own.

    The image above is a mosaic that Del made. He called it Tree of Life.

    I’m going to miss him terribly.

    Kate

  3. Del Palmer and Kate Bush have conducted themselves in private and public with the sort of grace that is admirable. Genuine contribution to a legendary career in a world where you cannot even name the bass player of current major artists. I hope his family and friends see these comments and know how appreciated he was.

  4. Very sad news . A great musician, and Kate fans know his contribution to her career.
    I followed him on social media, he seemed to have a very dry wit .
    Regards to his family.

  6. This is terrible news. Del was an integral part of the Kate Bush story. I was lucky enough to meet him at the Cloudbusting concert in Belfast some years ago. I took some lovely photos of him and Mandy that I later passed on to her. What a shame. Xxxx

  9. For a short while I used to work in Woolwich Library with him, although I only got to know him briefly before bigger things came his way. A friend of mine with whom I shared a house knew him and his friends better, one of them an excellent gutarist although I can’t remember his name. Sad when anyone that you have known or admired dies.

  10. I don’t normally indulge in RIP prose unless the deceased meant something special to me. Well, Del did… Kate Bush is someone I suppose I almost idolise if you can do that when you’re old and cynical and Del has been with her since the days of the K T Bush Band. In much the same way as I associate Tony Levin as being almost as big a part of Peter Gabriel’s solo career as Peter himself I associate Del with Kate. As many of you know they were also romantically involved for many years and he was a huge part of her sound and success. Rest in peace Del, you were a huge part of the whole Kate Bush thing for me… and I am genuinely saddened to hear of your passing. My musical world was a better place for you and for that I thank you.

  12. This is very, very sad news. His timeless contribution to Kate’s music, as well as her music videos, particularly in the 1980s, will live on forever. RIP.

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