On This Day in 2003: Former Jethro Tull Member Dee Palmer Officially Changes Name During Transition

Today marks twenty years since former Jethro Tull Keyboardist Dee Palmer changed her name as part of her transition from male to female. 

Before joining the band as a full-time member, she worked for them behind the scenes as a composer starting in 1968. She helped to pen the horn and string arrangements on  "Move on Alone" off of the album This Was. She, along with most of the other members, departed the band in 1980. The only remaining members that stayed were Ian Anderson and Martin Barre.

Source: Jethro Tull's Official Website

She and fellow JT member John Evan formed a band known as Tallis, however, they were not commercially successful and she went back to film scoring and working as a session musician.

Palmer, who was also intersex, was born with genital ambiguity. She spent her youth struggling with gender dysphoria as a result, and had had several surgeries (the last one taking place at age 28). Her dysphoria was repressed until after the death of her wife, Maggie, in 1995. She publicly came out a year later, when she said it "started to reassert itself".

According to Palmer, her mother and wife were her best friends and biggest supporters. She was always open with them about her struggles with being intersex, especially regarding growing need to correct her previous surgeries, as she had felt assigning her as male was a mistake. It wasn't until 2004 that she completed the rest of her surgeries and completed her transition.

Congratulations on finding yourself, Dee!

Happy listening!