Michael Palmer
Artist. Dancehall, reggae
- Active
- 1970s-present
- Sunrise
- 1960, Kingston
- Also known as
- Palma Dog
Michael Palmer, sometimes known as Palma Dog, was one of the singers who could compete with the deejays in the early 1980s, because, like Barrington Levy, Little John and Frankie Paul, he had come up through the sound systems and used the same improvising techniques at the mic.
He sang with the Stereophonic sound, and his gritty attack owed something to Leroy Smart. His first Jamaican hit, "Smoke the Weed," was cut at Channel One, one of the newer voices on the revitalized studio's Hitbound label, and "No Run Long Ketch" for Sugar Minott and "My Region" for Black Scorpio were dancehall classics. He also had hits for the Synmoie brothers' Thrillseekers label between 1982 and 1984, recorded for Jah Thomas, and was among the first singers Fatis Burrell recorded. His biggest record, "Lick Shot," came on George Phang's Powerhouse label over a Sly and Robbie riddim in 1984, and he later voiced "Them Naw Sting" for King Tubby. "Lickshot kicked open the doors," he said, but "I had problems with my vocals and I was advised to stop singing." Like many, the Rough Guide says, he recorded too much in his few months of glory, and his career never developed as it should have.
Last updated November 5, 2026
Connections
- King Tubby (producer)
- Fatis Burrell (producer)
- Sugar Minott (producer)
- George Phang (producer)
- Jah Thomas (producer)
- Jack Scorpio (producer)
- Sly Dunbar (session work)
- Robbie Shakespeare (session work)
- Channel One (studio)
Notes
- Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 248, 274.
- Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 274.
- Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 274, 282, 284.
- Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 285-86; David Katz, "Philip 'Fatis' Burrell Obituary," The Guardian, December 6, 2011, https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/dec/06/philip-fatis-burrell.
- Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 280-81, 305; "Michael Palmer: Lick Shot," Discogs, accessed October 7, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/master/296577. Wikipedia calls "Lick Shot" a Jamaican number one in 1984, which no other source read confirms.
- "Michael 'Lick Shot' Palmer Is Making a Comeback," Sunday Observer, reposted on Clinton Lindsay, August 27, 2017, https://clintonlindsay.com/2017/08/27/michael-lick-shot-palmer-is-making-a-comeback.
- Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 274, 281.
