The musician Jorge Palma died. I was 76

“It is with deep regret and dismay that Jorge Palma’s family and agency informs him of his death, which took place this Monday evening, at the age of 76, the victim of a cardiorespiratory arrest”, refers to the musician's family, in a message shared on social networks.

The family recalls that Jorge Palma, with a career of more than half a century, “leave a remarkable work that is part of the history” portuguese, as well as “many friends around the world, people who conquered with their generosity and genius”.

Jorge Palma’s wife, Rita Tomé, her children, Vicente and Francisco Palma, and the agents of the musician, André Sebastião and Tiago Branco, “in this moment of incalculable pain”, ask the author of themes such as “Fragile”, “Bairro do Amor”, “Estrela do Mar”, “In the land of dreams” and “Let me laugh” be remembered “for his songs and words”, thanking “all friendship demonstrated over the years”.

Information regarding funeral ceremonies “will be shared in due time”.

Born in Lisbon in 1950, Jorge Palma began to take music classes at the age of 6 and entered the Conservatory of Music in Lisbon at 10.

Although his career began to be told in 1972, the year he recorded the first single on his own name, “The Nine Billion Names of God”, the course in the song began eight years earlier, at age 14, when he left classical music to dedicate himself to pop-rock.

Before performing on his own behalf, Jorge Palma was part of the Union group, which played in the first edition of the Vilar de Mouros festival in 1971, and the Black Boys.

At the same time, he began to work in composition, orchestration and recording.

Shortly after editing the first single, he was summoned to military service, but decides to leave the country and settle in Denmark.

In 1974 he returned to Portugal, after April 25, he began working as an orchestrator and the following year he edited the first album, “Like a trip in the palm of his hand”.

Then he recorded 13 more original albums, and “each one corresponds to a moment” of Jorge Palma’s life. “With whom I was given, with whom I lived, the kind of life I lived, what I heard and read, all this makes each record unique,” Lusa told in an interview in 2022.

In the 1980s, back in Lisbon, he resumed piano studies at the conservatory, which ended in 1990. Soon after, he recorded “Just”, published in 1991, Jorge Palma’s first career collection, in which he revisits only piano songs from the previous two decades.

In the 1990s he advanced with the Palma’s Gang (band with Zé Pedro and Kalu, of the Xutos & Pontapés, and Flak and Alex Cortez dos Rádio Macau), made music for theater, was in the Rio Grande group, composed for others, until editing a new album of originals, “It is forbidden to smoke”, in 2001.

Followed by “North” (2004), “Night flight” (2007) and “With all due respect” (2011). The most recent album, and the last one, “Life”, was edited in 2023.

In May last year the show “3 palms in hand” premiered, in which she performed on stage with her two children, Vicente Palma, born in 1983 and who joined the band that accompanied her father about 20 years ago, and Francisco Palma, born in 1995.

Jorge Palma won the José Afonso Award in 2002 with “Jorge Palma”, and the first edition of the Pedro Osório Award, from the Portuguese Society of Authors, in 2012, with the album “With all due respect”.

In 2020, Jorge Palma was distinguished with the medal of cultural merit of the City of Lisbon, at the end of a concert of celebration of his 70 years, and was awarded by the then President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, as commander of the Order of Infante D. Henrique.

In April this year, he received the Career Award of the 8th PLAY – Awards of Portuguese Music, decided by the Audiogest director, who manages and represents the rights of multinational, national and independent publishers.

[News updated at 1:06 a.m.]