Ian Anderson, one of the band’s longtime members, took to the group’s website to confirm the news, revealing that Palmer died at home in Shropshire, supported by some family members at the bedside.
“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,” Anderson said. “Which Dee (David, back then) Martin Barre, and I had written for performances by the Scottish Ballet in 1979. I had agreed to play flute on the new recording and assumed it was delayed but still on the cards.”
Anderson further shared that, as David, Dee first wrote brass section parts and conducted them on the track “Move On Alone,” written by Mick Abrahams, for the group’s first album, This Was, in 1968.
“A few months later, I asked him to come up with the lovely string quartet arrangement for ‘A Christmas Song,’” Anderson continued. “Which was released on the B-side of our our single Love Story in November 1968. Following on during the next years, David was to continue in the arranger and conductor role, notably on the Aqualung, WarChild, MinstrelInThe Gallery, and Too Old To Rock And Roll albums.”
The musician eventually joined Tull as second keyboard player, covering all the string parts on electronic keyboards from 1976 until 1980.
Anderson further wrote about David’s transition to Dee in the early 2000s.
“David transitioned to Dee following psychological and medical consultations with surgery in 2004,” Anderson noted. “Following the death of his wife Maggie. He is survived by their four children.”
Dee released the album Through Darkened Glass in 2018. The record includes reworkings of several lines and song arrangements from sessions with Anderson. Dee also toured with The Martin Barre Band in the US and Latin America at the same time.
Speaking about Dee, Anderson added, “My own favorite 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.”