Procol HarumBeyond
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Gary was awarded the MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours on 14 June 2003 in recognition of his charitable services. His message to the website is here. The newspaper reports mentioned his musical activities primarily, of course. The Guardian referred to him as the 'singer / songwriter and founder of the seminal band Procol Harum'. Quite rightly so. Pictures of Gary and Franky at the Palace are here.
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Main instrument: Gary was taught the piano by Ronald Meachen; in 1967 GB told an NME interviewer that he also played cornet and trombone. See here for a moment's Brooker trumpeting. He was born at Hackney Hospital, 230 Homerton High Street, Hackney, E8, according to Pete Frame's Rockin' Around Britain (Omnibus Press 1989). Recordings by Gary's father, Harry Brooker: see here and here: review here; Gary's mother, see here
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A Whiter Shade of Pale (45 RPM) |
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Four Brooker solo albums |
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| Live in Ledreborg (CD, DVD, download) | DVD: Live in Copenhagen | DVD: Live at the Union Chapel | One Eye to the Future | |
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DVD: I'm Coming Home: The Paramounts' Reunion, 2005: click here to order |
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Gary plays AWSoP with the SAS Band at Chiddingfold. Photograph by Stuart Catterson, © Bridge Recordings: click on the picture to visit the SAS Band website |
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Click on this little picture to download a quicktime video that features GB along with others at the Heinkeken Night of the proms 1993 singing All You Need is Love. John O tells us that 'the segment features Gary prominently, with a bit of Sting, definitely way cool, covers about 2 verses ... , but it's 4.9 MB. Our illustration is a still from the video, of course |
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Other bands Gary has played in ... |
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Eric Clapton's Band (book excerpts here) : more info on this Clapton website. |
Gary's non-PH / Paramounts sessions (up to 1986) |
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He was also backed by Jethro Tull at a Friends of the Earth benefit in October 1994 |
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PH on stage | PH on record | PH in print | BtP features | What's new | Interact with BtP | For sale | Site search | Home |