Gary Brooker will forever be remembered by that one hit single from the summer of 1967, which reached the top ten just about everywhere in the world and even first place in the Netherlands. A Whiter Shade of Pale was the debut single by the British rock band Procol Harum and written by Brooker (together with Keith Reid) certainly in Europe symbolized the so-called Summer of Love. He died of cancer at home in London on Saturday at the age of 76.
No one understood exactly what it was about. How so: We skipped the light fandango† But the enchanting organ intro and especially the impossibly beautiful, soulful voice of Gary Brooker made the song with Bach quotes a pop classic that was in the same order in popularity as it was eight years later. Bohemian Rhapsody from Queen. Brooker was sued in 2005 by his longtime organist Matthew Fisher. Fisher claimed and got a share of the copyrights of A Whiter Shade of Pale† A statement that Brooker describes as ‘a darker shade of black’.
Although no success of Procol Harum ever came close to this song, the band in which Brooker gloryed not only as a singer but also as a pianist has scored more hits that have penetrated the collective pop memory. And actually it was always because of Brooker’s voice that Homburg (1967), Conquistador (1972), Grand Hotel and maybe the most beautiful Quite Rightly So (1968) also made it to the charts in the Netherlands. He was certainly one of the greatest British pop singers and could easily compete with his contemporaries Van Morrison, John Lennon and Eric Burdon.
Image problem
In the 1970s, Procol Harum with, in addition to Brooker, Matthew Fisher (organ) and guitarist Robin Trower also suffered from an image problem. Their music was often too complex for the charts. At the same time, the music was not really taken seriously by fans of prog-rock bands such as Genesis and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, because it was too light-hearted. In 1977 the band split up. Brooker makes with No More Fear of Flying in 1979 a beautiful song record and with the title track scored a hit in the Netherlands.
But his solo career does not really take off. In 1991, Procol Harum is re-established and will remain active until 2019. In between, Brooker is never afraid to use his voice or keys on albums by others. Among the names of George Harrison, Eric Clapton and Kate Bush, that of Ad Visser stands out. Brooker can be heard on Visser’s album Hi-Tec Heroes† the single No News from the Western Frontier makes the tip parade, and according to Visser is sung in the cover text by ‘my all time hero Gary Brooker’.