Carl Palmer

Carl Palmer: Keith Emerson’s death wasn’t the worst part of losing him

By Dave Everley published 14 April 26

They met when Palmer stood in with Fleetwood Mac for a show with The Nice. Half a century of amazing music and friendship followed. The drummer reveals what they’d be doing today if Emerson was still alive

Why Steve Howe didn’t join The Nice or Atomic Rooster, and didn’t even go to his Jethro Tull audition

By Sid Smith published 3 April 26

Yes guitarist looks back on starting to play without learning to read music, the wide range of career options he had, and names the album he regards as his greatest achievement

Why ELP drummer Carl Palmer’s musical icon is a trumpeter

By Sid Smith, Prog published 30 March 26

He explains his lifelong passion for innovator’s style and attitude – while a member of Steven Wilson’s band offers another perspective of the man at work

Amazingly, a prog supergroup soundtracked the summer of 1982. Their secret? English church music

By Mark Blake published 8 March 26

With a background in three of the genre’s biggest bands, the quartet got tired of creating epics and decided to go pop. But they know their debut album would have only achieved a thousandth of its sales without the last track to be added

“We made bad albums. Two should be melted down into flowerpots”: What Carl Palmer really thinks of ELP

By Philip Wilding published 19 November 25

Comparing his band to Yes and Pink Floyd, the sole surviving member looks back on OTT productions, getting carried away with overdubs and constant criticism – but insists: “We were setting a standard”

In 1971 Greg Lake enraged Keith Emerson, who immediately quit ELP. The result was acclaimed album Tarkus

By Sid Smith published 10 November 25

Carl Palmer recalls a crisis meeting, arguments over time signatures, and playing the whole album top to bottom in the studio – only to discover their engineer had taken a break

Twisted Sister’s Jay Jay French doesn’t love prog, but adores Emerson, Lake and Palmer

By Malcolm Dome published 15 September 25

Glam metal guitar slinger had been a fan of The Nice but hadn’t even heard of Carl Palmer when the super-talented supergroup blew him away live

Emerson, Lake & Palmer often didn’t work. Neither did projects that featured just two of them

By Malcolm Dome published 27 May 25

Massive musical ability crossed with pomposity and excess made it difficult for the supergroup to meet expectations – but even with one of the giant personalities missing, the other pair could struggled to deliver

“We took it badly – ‘No one wants us any more!’ We’d never been through the school of hard knocks. We didn’t know what it meant to work hard”: When ELP collapsed, Carl Palmer’s career-long lucky streak ended. But he didn’t give up

By Dom Lawson published 20 March 25

Born into a musical family and a pro by his teenage years with a real-life education in backstage realities, the passionate drummer has seen dreams come true with Arthur Brown, Atomic Rooster, Asia, Mike Oldfield and others