Wally Palmar (born Volodymyr Palamarchuk; April 27, 1954 in

Hamtramck, Michigan Hamtramck ( ) is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 28,433. Hamtramck is surrounded by the city of Detroit except for a small portion that borders the fellow enclave city of ...

) is a Ukrainian-American musician, singer, songwriter and composer. He is best known as a founding member and lead singer of

The Romantics The Romantics are an American rock band formed in 1977 in Detroit. The band is often put under the banner of new wave and power pop. They were influenced by 1950s American rock and roll, Detroit's MC5, the Stooges, early Bob Seger, Motown R&B ...

, a

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band from

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

, formed in 1977. Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band in Paris Wally Palmar and Edgar Winter

Palmar was born in

, US to Ukrainian immigrant parents in 1954 and immediately took to the sounds of the

British Invasion The British Invasion was a cultural phenomenon of the mid-1960s, when rock and pop music acts from the United Kingdom and other aspects of British culture became popular in the United States and significant to the rising "counterculture" on ...

. Palmar and several high school friends formed the Romantics in 1977 scoring their first record deal in 1979 with Nemperor Records. Their self-titled debut album for Nemperor in 1980 with British producer

Pete Solley Peter Solley (born 19 October 1948, London) is an English musician and record producer. He has recorded with Eric Clapton, Al Stewart and Whitesnake as well as producing records for Ted Nugent, Oingo Boingo, Motörhead, The Romantics, Jo Jo Zep ...

contained the band's first chart hit. " What I Like About You", which Palmar co-wrote, peaked at #49 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The band's 1983 album, ''In Heat'' contained the band's biggest hit, the million-selling " Talking in Your Sleep". In early 1984, it spent several weeks at #3 on ''Billboard'' and featured Palmar on lead vocals. Palmar also provided lead vocals on the minor-hit follow-up single, "One in a Million". In 2010 and 2011, Palmar toured as a part of Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band performing "What I Like About You" and "Talking in Your Sleep". In 2014, Palmar was a founding member of the Empty Hearts. The group recorded on

429 Records 429 Records was an American record label. It was a subsidiary label of Savoy Label Group/ Nippon Columbia focusing on indie rock and adult album alternative performers. In addition to releasing new material from musicians such as Dr. John, Littl ...

and Palmar's bandmates included Blondie drummer

Clem Burke Clement Burke (born Clement Anthony Bozewski; November 24, 1954) is an American musician who is best known as the drummer for the band Blondie from 1975, shortly after the band formed, throughout the band's entire career. He also played drums f ...

, the Chesterfield Kings bassist Andy Babiuk,

the Cars The Cars were an American rock band formed in Boston in 1976. Emerging from the new wave scene in the late 1970s, they consisted of Ric Ocasek ( rhythm guitar), Benjamin Orr (bass guitar), Elliot Easton (lead guitar), Greg Hawkes ( keyboard ...

guitarist

Elliot Easton Elliot Easton (born Elliot Steinberg, December 18, 1953) is an American guitarist. He played lead guitar and sang backing vocals for The Cars, and his guitar solos are an integral part of the band's music. Easton has also recorded music as a so ...

, and

Small Faces Small Faces were an English rock band from London, founded in 1965. The group originally consisted of Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones and Jimmy Winston, with Ian McLagan replacing Winston as the band's keyboardist in 1966. The ...

and

Faces The face is the front of an animal's head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may affe ...

pianist

Ian McLagan Ian Patrick McLagan (; 12 May 1945 – 3 December 2014) was an English keyboardist, best known as a member of the rock bands Small Faces and Faces. He also collaborated with the Rolling Stones and led his own band from the late 1970s. He was i ...

."Meet the Empty Hearts," Billboard 8 May 2014 accessed online at http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6084531/empty-hearts-blondie-cars-romantics-chesterfield-kings-album-song-listen The band's self-titled first album was released 5 August 2014 and produced by

Ed Stasium Ed Stasium is an American record producer and audio engineer, who has worked on albums by the Ramones, Talking Heads, Motörhead, the Smithereens and Living Colour. History Stasium began his recording career in 1970 fronting the band Brandywine. ...

References

1954 births Living people American rock musicians Musicians from Michigan Male new wave singers American people of Ukrainian descent The Romantics members Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band members {{US-musician-stub