“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”. The information was only published on Tuesday on the official website of the rock group Procol Harum, an institution across the Channel. But it was last Saturday that Gary Brooker, 76, died of cancer.
He died “peacefully, at home,” says the group, known for being one of the first to insert bits of classical music into what was then called pop.
The British artist will be remembered for his interpretation of one of the greatest hits of the 60s, “A whiter Shade of Pale”. A song released in 1967 and inspired by a piece of Bach, with lyrics resonating well with the psychedelic era of the time. Sold over 10 million copies worldwide, number 1 in 17 countries, including France, the piece has remained one of the most famous slows in the world, has been covered many times, for example by Annie Lennox in 1995. He also appears in the soundtrack of many films, including Lars Von Trier’s “Breaking the Waves”.
During a meeting with the Parisian, in 2017, the musician explained to us the genesis of this legendary song: “It was one morning, in the house in Southend where I lived with my mother. I started writing it, and I immediately thought I had a good idea. Everyone I introduced this track to thought it was good. The first time I played it at the record company publisher, I was told: It’s a hit! It must have come out three weeks later, and a week later it was number one! »
After disbanding Procol Harum at the end of the 1970s, Brooker reformed it in the early 1990s, then reactivated it during tours that regularly passed through Paris, the last time at the Trianon in 2017. Concerts where this gentleman, who spoke a little French, always showed a very British class and phlegm.
