From Misery to Hope

About the book

From Misery to Hopeis Robert D. Palmer’s memoir: his account of a life that moved through Motown and the soul scene, professional highs and personal devastation, a near-death experience and a long struggle with bipolar depression, and an ultimately hopeful reconnection with family in his final years.

The book is written in Robert’s voice. It was developed through writing and recorded conversations between Robert and his son Kary Youman between 2019 and 2020. After Robert’s death, Kary completed the editorial process. The manuscript was published posthumously in 2021 by Tenth House Publishing, with a foreword by Grammy-nominated musician and arranger Howard McCrary, and editing by Gloria Palmer.

The dedication reads: “This book was published for Robert posthumously, so we dedicate this book to his memory and his desire to tell his story.”

How the book came to exist

In 2018, Robert and Kary Youman found each other through a DNA match, a reunion nearly four decades in the making. Their first conversation lasted more than six hours.

Over the following year, conducted mostly by phone, they built a relationship. Robert talked about his life at length: his childhood in Oakland and San Bernardino, his career, his faith, the difficult years, and what he hoped still lay ahead. Those conversations, Kary later wrote, were “the catalysts for this book.”

In 2020, Robert relocated to Portland, Oregon, where Kary lives, to be near him and his other siblings. He told his family he loved living there. In the months that followed, Robert and Kary formalized the project, turning the recordings and Robert’s own writing into a manuscript he titled From Misery to Hope.

Robert died on December 31, 2020, at age 67, before publication. Kary completed the final editorial work, and the book was released approximately six months later.

From “The Early Years”

The following is adapted from Robert’s first-person account in From Misery to Hope. These are Robert’s own words.

“I was born on December 19, 1953, in Cleveland, Ohio. My dad’s name, your grandfather, was Robert Lee Palmer, and my mom’s name, your grandmother, was Ruthie Dell Palmer... My dad was a train mechanic for the Pennsylvania Railroad. He died when I was two, and at the age of five, my two sisters, my mom, and I moved to Oakland, California.”

“Music started for me when I was introduced to it at the age of ten. I can still remember riding around in Oakland, California, in the early Sixties in my older sister’s deep-purple convertible Pontiac, my head leaning back, staring at the starry skies, as the tinny radio blasted out Motown hits by The Supremes, Smokey and The Miracles, The Temptations, etc. You could hear it throughout the neighborhoods. It was intoxicating! From that moment forward, I knew, somehow or someway, I needed to be a part of the magic coming from that radio.”

“At the age of thirteen I got my first guitar. Shortly after that I heard Stax Records session guitarist Steve Cropper play on Aretha Franklin’s ‘Chain of Fools,’ and later the music of Jimi Hendrix... This was when I knew this would be my life’s path and a possible way out of the horrible place I grew up in.”

A note on sources

From Misery to Hopeholds material that exists nowhere else: Robert’s first-person account of his childhood, his career, and his inner life, told in his own voice.

Because it is a personal memoir, the archive is careful about how it uses it. Details drawn from the book are cited as Robert’s own recollections, and distinguished from what can be confirmed through release records, trade publications, or other independent sources. Where the book and the outside record agree, both are noted. Where a career detail from the book hasn’t yet been confirmed elsewhere, the archive says so.

This is not a judgment on Robert’s honesty. It’s a way of keeping the record honest, so that what is documented and what is remembered stay clearly distinguishable.

Mental health and legacy

Robert lived with mental health challenges for much of his life. His story included extraordinary creativity, deep connection, difficult seasons, and an ongoing search for hope. In preserving his life and work, his family also hopes to encourage more compassionate conversations about mental health and make it easier for people and families to find support.