Palmolive (musician)
Palmolive was the stage name for Spanish born drummer Paloma Romera. Palmolive was the drummer for influential
punk groups
The Slits and
The Raincoats.
Palmolive was born in
1955 in Southern
Spain. She was educated in
Catholic schools but by the age of 13 had grown bored and begun to challenge authority. She moved to
Madrid, Spain and found that she was still unhappy with life in
Spain. In
1972 Palmolive moved to
London, England. In West London she lived in squats with a different groups of hippies, for her this was paradise. While living in London Palmolive moved into a flat with a man nicknamed Woody who would later go on to become
Joe Strummer, the front man for the
punk band
The Clash. After living in squats for two years, she became bored and decided to move on.
During this time
punk had exploded in London. Palmolive's then boyfriend Woody had just joined
The Clash and changed his name to
Joe Strummer. Wanting to be a part of this new exciting world Paloma changed her name to Palmolive and begin working as a drummer for the band
The Flowers of Romance which featured future
Sex Pistols member
Sid Vicious. After a
Patti Smith concert Palmolive met
Ari Up and the two founded the mostly female band
The Slits.
The Slits were known to be brash, raw and wild and gained attention early on. The band often played with
The Clash and the
Sex Pistols. By
1978 tensions in the band became bad and Palmolive parted ways.
In
1979 she joined another female
punk band,
The Raincoats. The band was much more laid back then
The Slits and made Palmolive feel at home. After recording the groups first album and touring the UK she left the group and the music business feeling dissatisfied.
After leaving the
The Raincoats Palmolive looked at changing her life around and spent the next 6 years exploring
India. During this time she met and married her husband Dave. In
1979 Palmolive gave birth to her first child, Sandy, after moving back to
Spain. Soon the family would move back to
England. After moving back to
England and feeling unhappy with life in general she turned to God and to Christian teachings, finally finding happiness with life and the world around her.
Palmolive got her stage name from a conversation she had with
Clash bassist
Paul Simonon. He asked her what her name was. Because it was a
Spanish name and he could not pronounce it, he wise-cracked, "Palmolive"? She found this funny and decided to keep the name.
*
The Slits*
The Raincoats*
The Flowers of Romance*
Palmolive 2 Day - last accessed on
October 27,
2005*
Palmolive - last accessed on
October 30,
2005*
2005 interview
