‘I’m Going to Miss Him Terribly’: Kate Bush Mourns Death of Longtime Collaborator Del Palmer

Kate Bush is mourning the loss of her longtime collaborator and former romantic partner, Del Palmer. Following Palmer’s death on Friday, Jan. 5 at the age of 71, the “Running Up That Hill” singer paid tribute to her late friend with a statement that she shared to her official website, writing that she is “going to miss him terribly.”

“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,” Bush wrote alongside a photograph of “Tree of Life,” a colorful mosaic of a tree that Palmer made. “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…I’m going to miss him terribly.”

The tribute came after Kate Bush News confirmed that Palmer passed away in his home “surrounded by his family” on Jan. 5. He was 71. A cause of death was not disclosed, though the fan site for the art-pop star reported that he “had dealt with health issues over the past few years.”

Born in London in 1952, according to Discogs and his official website, Palmer began playing bass and formed his first band, Tame, in 1969. The band eventually became The KT Bush Band in the late ’70s after Palmer and the singer crossed paths following her debut album, The Kick Inside. Their collaboration spanned decades, with Palmer receiving credits on every Bush album released between 1978 and 2011, including 1978’s Lionheart and her most recent album, 2011’s 50 Words for Snow.

Palmer and Bush were also romantically involved for over 15 years, their romance sparking in the late ’70s and lasting until the early ’90s. Although Palmer rarely participated in interviews to protect Bush’s privacy, he did open up about their working relationship in a 2018 conversation with The Irish Examiner, telling the outlet after first meeting Bush through mutual friends in the London music scene, he “knew I had to be involved. She was going to be huge – that was obvious to me when she was 17 and still a very raw artist.”

Outside of his work with Bush, Palmer also played in a variety of club bands around the London area in the ’70s, including Cobwebs and Strang and Company, He also released a series of his own solo albums – 2007’s Leap Of Faith, 2008’s EP Outtees & Alternatives, 2010’s Gift, and 2015’s Point of Safe Return.