Palmolive (musician)

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For the soap company, see Colgate-Palmolive.

Palmolive was the stage name for Spanish-born drummer Paloma Romero. Palmolive was the drummer for influential punk groups The Slits and The Raincoats.

Romero was born on 3 January 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 Romero 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, Romero 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. Romero's then-boyfriend had just joined The Clash and changed his name to Joe Strummer. Romero got her stage name Palmolive 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.

Palmolive began 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 than The Slits and made Palmolive feel at home. After recording the group's first album and touring the UK she left the group and the music business feeling dissatisfied.

After leaving the The Raincoats Romero looked at changing her life around and spent the next six months exploring India. During this time she met and married her husband Dave McLardy. In 1979 Romero 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 became a born-again Christian.

She currently lives with her husband and three children in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. As of 1995, she and her husband led a cover band called Hi-Fi, rewriting key lyrics to reflect their Christian beliefs. Included in their repertoire is The Slits' song "FM," with the chorus' lyrics changed to "Jesus is the answer / Why don't you let him in?"^[1]