Procol Harum

1.2 A Whiter Shade of Pale, commercial

success and debut album (1967)

Procol Harum (/prokl hrm/) are an English rock

band formed in 1967. They contributed to the development of progressive rock, and by extension, symphonic
rock. Their best-known recording is their 1967 hit single
"A Whiter Shade of Pale", which is considered a classic
of popular music and is one of the few singles to have sold
over 10 million copies.[1] Although noted for its baroque
and classical inuence, Procol Harums music also embraces the blues, R&B and soul.

At Olympic Studios, southwest London, with session

drummer (and non-Paramount) Bill Eyden, producer
Denny Cordell and sound engineer Keith Grant, the
group recorded "A Whiter Shade of Pale", and it was released on 12 May 1967. With a structure reminiscent of
Baroque music, a countermelody based on J. S. Bach's
In October 2012, the band was nominated for induction Orchestral Suite N 3 in D Major by Fishers Hammond
organ, Brookers soulful vocals and Reids mysterious
into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[2]
lyrics, the single reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart
and the Canadian RPM Magazine chart. It did almost as
well in the United States, reaching No. 5.[3] In Australia,
it was No. 1 for many weeks, setting a record of 8 weeks
1 History
in Melbourne.

1.1

Origins, The Paramounts, early years After A Whiter Shade of Pale became a hit, the band
set out to consolidate their studio success by touring;
and formation (196467)
their live debut was opening for Jimi Hendrix in 1967.
The groups follow-up single, "Homburg", with a line-up
change of former Paramounts B.J. Wilson on drums and
Robin Trower on guitar, reached No. 6 in the UK, No.
15 in Canada, and No. 34 in the US.

The Paramounts, based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, led

by Gary Brooker and Robin Trower and including Chris
Copping and B. J. Wilson, scored a moderate British success in 1964 with their version of Jerry Leiber and Mike
Stoller's "Poison Ivy", which reached number 35 in the
UK Singles Chart. Unable to generate any follow-up success, the group disbanded in 1966.[3]

The groups eponymous debut studio album was recorded

between the two hit singles, but was held back until early
1968. A series of singles charted lowly in the US and UK,
though rarely both at the same time.

The Paramounts were signed to EMI UK for their releases; until one day before Procol Harum linked with
EMI UK again, they were called The Pinewoods. A 1.3 Follow-up albums and break-up
last-minute oer from Chris Blackwell's edgling Island
(19681977)
Records label was given the thumbs down by Brooker and
band.
The bands follow-up album, Shine On Brightly, was reIn April 1967, Brooker began working as a singer- leased the following year and sees a greater excursion into
songwriter and formed Procol Harum with non- progressive rock stylings. Their third album, A Salty Dog
Paramounts Keith Reid (poet), Hammond organist (1969), was popular among fans and their rst album to
Matthew Fisher, guitarist Ray Royer and bassist David sell well in the UK. The title track in particular gained a
Knights.[3] Guy Stevens, their original manager, named good deal of US FM radio airplay. However, one noted
the band after a friends Burmese cat.[4] The cats US writer previewed the LP and the story ran in print as
"Cat Fancy" name was Procul Harun, Procul being the A Salty Duck. Fisher, who produced the album, debreeders prex.[5]
parted the band soon after its release.[3]
The group would have many personnel changes,[9] but
their line-up for their rst three albums was Brooker (piano and lead vocals), Trower (guitar and lead vocals),
Fisher (organ and lead vocals), Knights (bass), Wilson
(drums), and Reid (lyricist). Former Paramount Chris
Copping joined on organ and bass in 1970.[3] The group
appeared at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970.[10] By 1971,
the disparities in style had become too great and, after

In the absence of a denitive origin, the name attracted

various interpretations,[6] being said to be Latin for beyond these things (but the correct Latin translation of
beyond these things is Procul his)[7] or translated as
of these far o things, the genitive plural harum perhaps agreeing with an understood rerum, things.[8]
The name of the band is frequently misspelt; often with
Procul, Harem, both, or other variations.
1

1 HISTORY

the release of their fth album Broken Barricades, Trower 1.5 2000s
left to form his own power trio band and was replaced by
Dave Ball.[3] From late 1972 until 1977, the groups guiIn 2000, Procol Harum received some attention after
tarist was Mick Grabham. By 1968 their rst compilation
the song In Held Twas in I appeared on the band
album In Concert 1968 was released but only in Germany.
Transatlantics debut album.
Procol Harum returned to success on the record charts in
Since 2001 the band, comprising Brooker, Fisher, Geo
the following years with a symphonic rock sound, often
Whitehorn (guitar), Matt Pegg (bass) and Mark Brzezicki
backed by symphony orchestras. At this they were one
(drums), has made several tours of mostly Europe, but
of the rst groups to achieve success; Procol Harum Live:
also Japan and the US. A 2001 concert in Copenhagen,
In Concert with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra was a
Denmark was released on DVD in 2002. In 2003 the
No. 5 gold album in the US in 1972, as well as reaching
band released a new studio album, The Wells on Fire,
No. 48 in Britain. "Conquistador" (a track from their rst
and appeared at the Progman Cometh festival in Seattle.
album, re-charted for accompaniment by the Edmonton
Their concert in London on Friday 12 December 2003,
Symphony in 1971) was a hit single in 1972, getting to
with much of the material from that album, was released
No. 16 in the US and No. 7 in Canada, whilst reaching
on DVD in 2004: Live at the Union Chapel. Fisher left
No. 22 in the UK. Their follow-up album, Grand Hotel,
Procol Harum in 2004.
did fairly well, reaching No. 21 on the US Billboard 200
in 1973.[3] The album also received a Silver Certication The band resumed a limited touring schedule in 2005,
with Josh Phillips replacing Fisher on Hammond, leav(over 60, 000 copies sold) in the United Kingdom.
ing Brooker as the only original performing member. In
In 1975 Procol Harum played the nal night at the
June 2006 they played at the Isle of Wight Festival. In
[11]
Rainbow Theatre in London. More personnel changes
August they played two outdoor concerts with the Danish
contributed to declining sales in the later part of the
Radio Orchestra at Ledreborg Castle in Denmark, which
1970s, with Pandoras Box being their nal UK Top 20
were tele-recorded. An hour-long edit of the show was
[3]
hit in 1975. Its parent album, Procols Ninth saw a rebroadcast on Christmas morning, 2008 on Danish Chanconnection with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller who both
nel DR2 and the full concert was issued on DVD on 11
produced and wrote with the band. The band broke up
May 2009 (with six extra tracks from a Danish television
in 1977, after seeing Something Magic stall at No. 147 in
recording of the band from 1974).
[11]
the US Billboard 200 chart. They reunited for a single
performance ve months later, when A Whiter Shade Later in 2006 they played in Switzerland, Norway and
of Pale was named joint winner (along with Queen's Denmark, but with Geo Dunn replacing Brzezicki on
"Bohemian Rhapsody") of the Best British Pop Single drums, because the latters other band Casbah Club was
[14]
However, Dunn ended up re19521977 at the BRIT Awards, part of Queen Elizabeth touring with The Who.
[12]
placing Brzezicki for the bands European tour in 2007.
II's Silver Jubilee.
Recording from the Italian concerts were later released as
One Eye to the Future Live in Italy 2007. Procol Harum
also played an orchestral concert in Sweden on 30 June.
1.4 Reformation and the 'Nineties (1991- They performed with the Gvle Symphony Orchestra at
the outdoor opera venue Dalhalla, near Rttvik.
1999)
On 20 and 21 July 2007, fans arranged the celebration of
the 40th anniversary of the success of A Whiter Shade
of Pale, and invited the band to play. This took the form
of two concerts at St Johns, Smith Square in London.
20 July saw Procol Harum play a mixture of songs from
their early days through to the dbut of a couple of new
songs, Sister Mary and Missing Persons. The following night 'Gary Brooker and Guests performed a xture
In August 1995 Procol Harum played at the Cropredy of obscure songs by BrookerReid that had either never
Music Festival, as guests of Fairport Convention. They been recorded, never been performed live before or were
also toured US and UK the same year, performing at sev- signicantly dierent from the versions they recorded.
eral locations.[13]
Although there was no Procol Harum activity in 2008,
In July 1997, fans arranged the celebration of the 30th an- their manager Chris Cooke used the 'Beyond the Pale'
niversary of the success of A Whiter Shade of Pale, and web site to announce plans for a live DVD and a new alinvited the then-inactive band to play a concert at Redhill, bum in 2009, as well as festival concerts in Norway on
Surrey.
17 July and Finland on 23 July.[15] Just before the latIn late 1999, Brooker promised that Procol will play in ter concert, Brooker fell o a pile of road-side logs in
2000, and in September the band played an open air gig Finland and broke several ribs. The show went ahead but
he was unable to sing properly, and many of the songs
with the New London Sinfonia in Guildford.
The band reformed in 1991 with Brooker, Fisher, Trower
and Reid (Wilson had died in 1990), and released The
Prodigal Stranger, but sales were modest.[11] After the
albums release, a new incarnation of the band, with
Brooker and Fisher but not Trower, toured the US and
the world for a few years in the rst half of the 1990s.[3]

3
were performed either as instrumentals or sung by others
in the band. In October 2009, with Brooker fully recovered, the band performed four concerts in Hagen (Germany), Drammen (Norway), Moscow and St Petersburg.
All This and More, a four disc retrospective (three CDs
and a DVD with historical notes) was released in the autumn of 2009, and Salvo also issued all of the bands previous albums as remastered CDs with extra tracks, some
never previously heard.

of Pale. Martin Scorsese wrote the Foreword, Sir Alan

Parker wrote an Introduction and Sebastian Faulks wrote
an Afterword. He also hosted a rare Procol Harum lm
evening at the BFI on the South Bank, which was attended
by members of the group.
In March and April 2013 Procol Harum played a series of
ve orchestral concerts in Denmark and two such events
in Wuppertal in Germany. Four band-only concerts in
Sweden & Finland were held in early October.

In September 2012 Procol Harum was among fteen nal nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Class
1.6 2010s (2010present)
of 2013 (induction 18 April 2013). In the subsequent
election that December, however, the band failed to gain
Procol played a string of US (and Toronto) concert dates
enough votes for election.[2]
in June 2010, mostly opening for Jethro Tull. On 22
July Procol again headlined at the Keitelejazz Festival In 2014 the band toured again in France, Switzerland,
in nekoski, Finland the venue where the band per- Germany, Canada (Ottawa with orchestra) and the Eastformed with an injured Brooker in 2009. They described ern U.S. The band also played a ve-song set at Kenthis loyal Finnish audience as the best in the world and ney Jones Rock'n'Horsepower charity event at Ewhurst,
played a unique three-verse version of A Whiter Shade Surrey in June, on a bill including Alvin Stardust, John
of Pale with a guitar solo from Geo Whitehorn. 48 Lodge, Nick Kershaw, Mike Rutherford, Judie Tsuke and
hours later Procol were invited to give a free concert at The Who. A twin CD, Inside & Outside, was issued
the courtyard of the Palace of the Province of Bergamo with studio tracks from the Chrysalis years and a live
in Italy. In August 2010 they appeared in Bad Krozin- CD including new material and performances of tracks
gen in Germany and a Rock Legends event at the Dolina from their rst four Zonophone albums. On Monday
Charlotty Amphitheater in Poland. After a Halloween gig 24 November Procol Harum appeared at the Dominion
in Leamington Spa (their rst in the UK for 3 years) the Theatre in London with the BBC Concert Orchestra and
band returned to North America in November, including the Crouch End Festival Chorus in an event recorded for
a return orchestral event with the Edmonton Symphony broadcast on BBC Radio 2s Friday Night is Music Night
Orchestra on 9 November. After playing in Tallinn, on 28 November. Guitarist Geo Whitehorn was hospiEstonia on 18 November, they returned to the US for an talised during rehearsals and at short notice Rick Wakeorchestral concert in Wilmington, Delaware on 4 Decem- mans guitarist Dave Colquhoun deputised (on crutches,
ber. Over 13 thousand people saw eight New Year con- after a broken ankle). He played a guitar solo in the rst
certs with the Danish Radio Orchestra in Copenhagen and extended, orchestrated version of Keith Reids 9/11 tribute song Blink of an Eye, dedicated by Gary Brooker
other Danish cities in January 2011.
to the brave reghters of the 8th Avenue station who the
On 29 May 2012, Gary Brooker was hospitalised after
band often talked with after gigs in New York.
suering a fall in his hotel room in Cape Town. He was
due to have performed with his band at GrandWest Arena
on the 30th, with fellow Brits 10cc and The Moody Blues,
in a tour billed as the 'British Invasion' and then again in 2 Authorship lawsuit
Johannesburg on Friday 1 June 2012. Brooker (whose
birthday it was) had been in his room at the ve-star Table Main article: A Whiter Shade of Pale Authorship
Bay Hotel. He was admitted to the ICU of the Christiaan lawsuit
Barnard Memorial Hospital with a serious skull fracture.
[16]

The band returned to Denmark for the Klften Festival on 25 June before embarking on a 27-date U.S. tour
supporting Yes. In 2012 the Japanese artist Yumi Matsutoya came to London to record A Whiter Shade of
Pale with Procol Harum, a band she considered an inspiration for her work. She sang a duet with Gary Brooker
on this new version of the 1967 classic, which featured
three verses and a guitar solo by Geo Whitehorn. Yumi
and Procol Harum then played a series of December concerts in major Japanese cities, one of which was recorded
for a later television showing (on 31 March 2013).

In July 2009, Matthew Fisher won a British court judgment awarding him 40% of the music royalties from 2005
onwards for 1967s A Whiter Shade of Pale, which had
previously gone 50% to Brooker for the music and 50%
to Reid for the lyrics.[17]

In 2012 Henry Scott-Irvine published a biography of the

band, Procol Harum The Ghosts of A Whiter Shade

Gary Brooker vocals, piano (19671977, 1991

3 Members
Current members

present)

5
Keith Reid lyrics (19671977, 1991present)

Shine on Brightly (1968)

Geo Whitehorn guitars (1991present)

A Salty Dog (1969)

Matt Pegg bass (1993present)

Home (1970)

Josh Phillips organ (1993, 2004present)

Broken Barricades (1971)

Geo Dunn drums (2006present)

Grand Hotel (1973)

Former members

REFERENCES

Exotic Birds and Fruit (1974)

Procols Ninth (1975)

Matthew Fisher organ, vocals (19671969, 1991

2003)

Dave Knights bass (19671969)

The Prodigal Stranger (1991)

Ray Royer guitars (1967)

The Wells on Fire (2003)

Bobby Harrison drums (1967)

B.J. Wilson drums, percussion (19671977; died
1990)

Robin Trower guitars, vocals (19671971, 1991)

Chris Copping bass, organ (19691977)
Dave Ball guitars (19711972; died 2015)
Alan Cartwright bass (19721976)
Mick Grabham guitars (19721977)

5 References
[1] Show 49 The British Are Coming! The British Are
Coming!: With an Emphasis on Donovan, the Bee Gees
and The Who. [Part 6]: UNT Digital Library. UNT Digital Library. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
[2] France, Lisa Respers (4 October 2012). Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame Nominees Announced CNN.com.
CNN.com. Retrieved 27 December 2014.

Tim Renwick guitars (1977, 1991)

[3] Strong, Martin C. (2000). The Great Rock Discography

(5th ed.). Edinburgh: Mojo Books. pp. 776777. ISBN
1-84195-017-3.

Pete Solley organ (1977)

[4] Johansen 2000, p. 50.

Dee Murray bass (1977; died 1992)

Dave Bronze bass (19911993)
Mark Brzezicki drums (19911992, 2000-2006)
Jerry Stevenson guitars, mandolin (1991)
Don Snow organ (1992)
Ian Wallace drums (1993; died 2007)
Graham Broad drums (1995, 1997)
Henry Spinetti drums (1996)

3.1

Something Magic (1977)

Timeline

Discography

Main article: Procol Harum discography

[5] About the Cat Whose Name the Band Adopted: Illustrated. procolharum.com. Retrieved 27 December
2014..
[6] Doglatin. procolharum.com. Retrieved 27 December
2014.
[7] Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary,
prcul. perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
[8] Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary,
rs. perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
[9] A Graphical Pedigree of Procol Harum (Old Testament)". procolharum.com. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
[10] Tobler, John (1992). NME Rock 'N' Roll Years (1st ed.).
London: Reed International Books Ltd. p. 215. CN
5585.
[11] Roberts, David (1998). Guinness Rockopedia (1st ed.).
London: Guinness Publishing Ltd. pp. 337338. ISBN
0-85112-072-5.
[12] 1977. brits.co.uk. Retrieved 27 December 2014.

Studio albums
Procol Harum (1967)

[13] http://www.procolharum.com/ph_95-tour.htm
[14] Geoggrey Dunn. procolharum.com. Retrieved 27 December 2014.

[15] Procol Harum News. procolharum.com. Retrieved 27

December 2014.
[16] DR Nytarskoncerter med Procol Harum. dr.dk (in Danish). 15 January 2011. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
[17] Classic 1960s Songs Organist Wins Royalties Battle
CNN.com. CNN.com. 30 July 2009. Retrieved 27 December 2014.

Sources
Johansen, Claes (2000). Beyond the Pale. SAF Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0-946719-28-4.

External links
Beyond the Pale, Procol Harums semi-ocial website

8 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

8.1

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Jfdwol, Scraggy4, CJCurrie, Thincat, Yossarian, Sam Hocevar, Inventio, Grstain, Bonalaw, Bruzie, Rich Farmbrough, Barfooz, Aaronbrick, Nk, Anonymous Cow, SemperBlotto, Droob, AeneasMacNeill, Phyllis1753, Ombudsman, H2g2bob, Alai, Robert K S, Bdj, Obersachse, Lawrence King, Enzo Aquarius, Koavf, Rogerd, Vegaswikian, Lairor, Tbone, FlaBot, RexNL, Sonitus, Aethralis, Wasted Time
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