“It is with immense regret that we must announce the death, on February 19, 2022, of Gary Brooker (…), singer, pianist and composer of Procol Harum, and a radiant and irreplaceable light in the music industry” , could we read this Tuesday, February 22 on the site official British psychedelic rock band. “Aged 76, he was being treated for cancer, but died peacefully at home.”
Gary Brooker, who was born on May 29, 1945 in east London, learned to play the piano, guitar and cornet at an early age from his father, who was a professional musician. At the end of the 1960s, he created with Keith Reid the Procol Harum group. A name inspired by that of a friend’s cat, unrelated to the Latin meaning “Beyond things”.
In 1967, the band released the song A whiter shade of pale, which has become one of the leading melodies of the “summer of love” hippie movement. Inspired by Johann Sebastian Bach, the single topped European and American charts, and sold over 10 million copies.
“I never thought it would happen in France, he confided in an interview given to Franceinfo in 2017. Words in English are not easy to understand. And when we came to Paris for a radio show and the track was number 1, I couldn’t believe it! It was also number 1 in Venezuela and Hong Kong! In the whole world !” The hit is still today the most famous slow of all time. It has been covered by many artists including Annie Lennox and Billy Joel.
In addition to his participation in Procol Harum – which he dissolved in 1977 and then reformed in 1991 – Gary Brooker, a blues fan, has collaborated with several other groups, such as those of Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, as well as with artists such as Paul McCartney and George Harrison.