Comedyobit: Duke D'Mond

Richard Palmer - who performed with The Barron Knights as Duke D'Mond - has died.

Originally, the band were going to be a straight singing act. At least that was the idea when the members came together in Leighton Buzzard in 1960. They were still playing it straight-ish when they provided support for the Beatles' first headlining tour of the UK. Their act, though, started to contain more and more pisstakes, and by the time they released their debut single, Call Up The Bands, their role as a comedy act was more or less inescapable.

Although their humour might not have aged well - combining parodies of current hits with a little too much casual racism and sexism - in their day, the Knight's knack at turning out skewed parodies gave them a chart career spanning three decades. The band, or at least an iteration of it, is still touring today; Palmer left the band around four years ago following a fall.

The Barron Knights' website paid tribute:

‘He was rushed to a hospital in Oxford with internal bleeding, then went into a coma before having a severe heart attack. He then developed pneumonia and died.

‘All of us Barron Knights are devastated at losing a friend who was a member of the band for 46 years. He had a great singing voice and was very much a part of all our hit records and was a great performer on stage.’

Palmer died on April 9th; he was 66.

[Thanks to @alanconnor for the tip]