Procol Harum () were an English rock band formed in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, in 1967. Their best-known recording is the 1967 hit single "A Whiter Shade of Pale", one of the few singles to have sold more than 10 million copies. Although noted for their baroque and classical influence, Procol Harum's music is described as psychedelic rock and proto-prog with hints of the blues, R&B, and soul.
In 2018, the band was honoured by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame when "A Whiter Shade of Pale" was inducted into the new Singles category. They had previously been nominated as performers in 2012.
In 1966, after Southend-on-Sea-based group The Paramounts were unable to generate any follow-up success with their UK top 40 single "Poison Ivy", the group disbanded. Their frontman Gary Brooker decided to retire from performing and focus on songwriting, and his old friend Guy Stevens introduced him to lyricist Keith Reid. In April 1967, after several months writing together while failing to find any artists interested in performing their songs, Brooker and Reid decided to form their own band which would use their songs as their sole material. Brooker, in addition to vocals and the piano, was also proficient on the organ, trombone, cornet, piano accordion and Bengal flute.
Paramounts' drummer Barrie "B. J." Wilson agreed to stay on and rehearse for the new group and auditions brought them bassist David Knights and two members of George Bean and the Runners, Richard Brown (guitar) and Alan Morris (organ). But the lack of gigs and money led to the dispersal of this grouping before they even got out of the rehearsal hall, with only Knights staying on.
They next teamed with organist Matthew Fisher, who had left Screaming Lord Sutch's backing group The Savages and advertised for work. Reid said he was right for Procol Harum just from talking to him and decided before hearing him play. Guitarist Ray Royer was chosen after the group placed an advertisement for players and were inundated, so the band "really grilled the applicants" to find "someone with the right state of mind". Reid said bassist David Knights had also been chosen in a similar manner to Fisher, in that he was right for the group "as a person", and had an original playing style. Drummer Bobby Harrison completed the line-up, after the group had tried out up to nine drummers by this point. Reid said Harrison was the first that the band "could really work with", and had a sense of humour that helped balance out the more serious personality that Reid and the rest of the band had. The band chose Stevens as their manager.
The group named themselves after a male blue Burmese cat, which had been bred by Eleonore Vogt-Chapman and belonged to Liz Coombes, a friend. Stevens suggested the group name themselves after the cat, which the group immediately accepted. However, the cat's pedigree name was in fact Procul Harun, the Procul being the breeder's prefix, but the name was taken down over the telephone, leading to a misspelling. Although people have inferred that the name is Latin for "beyond these things", this is incorrect as the correct term would be procul hīs.
"A Whiter Shade of Pale", "Homburg" and debut album (1967–1968)
In April 1967 the group entered Olympic Studios in London to record their debut single, "A Whiter Shade of Pale". They were joined by session drummer Bill Eyden in place of Harrison (though Harrison did play on the B-side "Lime Street Blues"), producer Denny Cordell and sound engineer Keith Grant. With a structure reminiscent of Baroque music, the song features a countermelody loosely based on Johann Sebastian Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major played by Fisher's Hammond organ. An enthusiastic response from listeners of the pirate radio station Radio London prompted Deram Records to rush-release the single for 12 May 1967. It was an instant worldwide success, reaching No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart for six weeks and the same spot in eleven countries. In three weeks, it became the fastest selling record by a new group. In the US, it peaked at No. 5 and the song has since sold over 10 million copies worldwide.
Around the same time, Cordell suggested that Jonathan Weston be brought in to co‑manage the band with Stevens.
Procol Harum played their first live gig at London's Speakeasy club on the day "A Whiter Shade of Pale" was released on 12 May 1967. They performed a set of mostly Brooker/Reid songs mixed with covers of Bob Dylan, The Rascals and Tim Rose tunes. Jimi Hendrix was an early vocal supporter of the band and attended their first show where, at the start of their performance of Bonnie Dobson's "Morning Dew" (which Rose claimed was his), he went on stage, took Knights' bass and joined in.
After 18 June, the group would not play live in the UK until the following year.
On 15 July 1967, the group announced the June departure of Royer and Harrison prior to the recording of the first album, both of whom immediately went on to form the group Freedom, as well as their replacing Weston as manager. Fisher later said that the major issue for the split with Weston was when he organised an extensive UK tour for Procol Harum too soon after the release of "A Whiter Shade of Pale", resulting in the group performing "for £60 per night instead of £500." Following the addition of guitarist Robin Trower and the return of B. J. Wilson, the band secured new management under Tony Secunda. The departures brought about what Brooker described as "great lawsuits and expense" from Royer, Harrison, and Weston, and initial session drummer Eyden filed his own suit. Roughly three months into their partnership with Secunda, the band hired two Americans, Bennett Glotzer and Ronnie Lyons, to manage them in the US.
The group's follow-up single, "Homburg", was released in September 1967. The song reached No. 6 in the UK and No. 34 in the US. In the same month their debut album, Procol Harum, recorded between the two hit singles, was released in the US. Brooker said its release soon after the singles put the band in good stead in the US, but the problems created by the line-up changes, subsequent lawsuits and new management delayed its release in the UK until December. Brooker said it was at this point where the band "had lost the British audience."
Shine on Brightly to Something Magic and break-up (1968–1977)
The band's follow-up album, Shine on Brightly was released the following year and saw a greater excursion into progressive rock stylings. It reached number 24 in the US but failed to chart in the UK. Finding themselves labelled as one-hit wonders in their home country, while in the US their reputation as a live act only continued to improve, for the next several years Procol Harum spent most of their time touring America.
Their third album, A Salty Dog (1969), was popular among fans and their first album to sell well in the UK. The title track in particular gained a good deal of US FM radio airplay, and the album is now considered a rock classic, appealing to fans of The Beatles, The Moody Blues and Pink Floyd. Procol Harum were asked to perform at the Woodstock Festival in August 1969, but were unable after Trower's wife was expecting a baby and needed to return to England.
Later in 1969, Fisher finally decided to leave the band. In addition to the friction caused by the songwriting credits on "A Whiter Shade of Pale", Fisher had wanted to play a bigger role in writing song lyrics for the band, feeling that Keith Reid's output was growing repetitive. When his proposals were rebuffed, Fisher opted to leave instead. As Brooker would later comment: "I remember Matthew [Fisher] moaning and wanting to leave in about the fourth week [after forming the band], and he went on moaning and wanting to leave until eventually we only had to agree that it would be best". When Fisher told Knights of his plan to leave, Knights resolved that it was the time for him to leave as well. Fisher and Knights were replaced by Chris Copping, another former member of The Paramounts, who played both organ and bass.The first album featuring this four-piece lineup was Home, released in June 1970. Shortly thereafter, the group appeared at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival.