IN MEMORY OF GARY BROOKER

Procol Harum’s singer-songwriter Gary Brooker MBE took the band from the British R&B scene to the burgeoning prog movement, and he quickly became one of the genre’s pioneers. His distinctive voice added elegance to the band’s unique blend of baroque pop and progressive rock, and his classical piano training made him a sought-after guest musician appearing with a wide variety of artists from George Harrison to Kate Bush. He died from cancer in February, at the age of 76, and we pay tribute to the rich musical legacy he leaves behind.

Mike Barnes

Gary Brooker began his musical career in 1960 in the teenage Southend-based beat group The Paramounts. They released a number of singles on Parlophone and scored a Top 40 hit in 1964 with a cover of Leiber And Stoller’s Poison Ivy. But by 1966 the musical landscape was changing fast, and the band felt they had done all they could by playing R&B covers. The Paramounts were remodelled into Procol Harum in 1967 and Brooker started to develop his musical ideas. “Things seemed much freer,” he said, “that you could do whatever you wanted, so I thought I’d become a songwriter, which I’d never done before. I got some ideas and thought, ‘Oh, I can do this!’” Brooker was classically trained – he had played piano since he was five…

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Prog (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 129

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