Jorge Palma, singer and songwriter, died on the night of Monday, September 21, at the age of 76, following a cardiac arrest. The news was confirmed by his family and the artist’s agency in a message shared on the musician’s social media accounts.
From classical music to rock at age 14
Born in Lisbon in 1950, Jorge Manuel de Abreu Palma began taking music lessons as a child and entered the Conservatory at age 10. It was not, however, the path of classical music that would shape his life: at age 14, he switched to rock. He released his first solo single, “The Nine Billion Names of God, ” in 1972, and even lived as a street musician in various European cities before returning to Portugal in 1982.
Half a century of songs
Over the course of a career spanning more than 50 years, Jorge Palma was part of Palma’s Gang —a project that also brought together Zé Pedro and Kalu from Xutos & Pontapés, and Flak and Alex Cortez from Rádio Macau —joined the group Rio Grande, wrote for the theater, and composed for other artists.
His hits include “Frágil,” “Bairro do Amor,” “Estrela do Mar,” and “Deixa-me Rir, ” as well as his return to success in 2007 with “Encosta-te a Mim.”
His final years, with his family
The album “Vida, ” released in 2023, would be his final album of original material. In May of last year, he took the stage with his two sons, Vicente and Francisco Palma, for the premiere of the show “3 Palmas na Mão”— Vicente, born in 1983, had been a member of the band accompanying his father for about 20 years; Francisco was born in 1995.
Throughout his career, Jorge Palma also won the José Afonso Award in 2002 and the first edition of the Pedro Osório Award, presented by the Portuguese Society of Authors, in 2012, for the album “Com Todo o Respeito.”
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