Procol Harum
 Procol Harum started off as a session group to record the Gary
Brooker (ex-The Paramounts) and Keith Reid (an ex legal clerk)
composed song A Whiter Shade Of Pale.
The song topped the
UK chart and became one of the songs of the psychedelic
summer of 1967.
Such was the success of Whiter Shade that permanent
musicians were recruited through newspaper advertisements and the
band was named Procol Harum, after a Burmese cat owned by a friend
of Reid's.
"The actual name of the group was Procul Harun,
but it was all done over the telephone and got misspelled"
Brooker explained.
Matthew Fisher and David Knights (on organ and bass
respectively) became integral members. Other original members Ray
Royer and Bobby Harrison left before the completion of the first
album and were replaced by guitarist Robin Trower and drummer BJ
Wilson.
Early in 1970 both Fisher and Knights left the
group. Despite never actually playing in the band, lyricist
Keith Reid remained part of the creative fulcrum of the band.
The band quickly built up a reputation in the US and gradually
accumulated a following in the UK.
Five year's later, the magic of the song had not dissipated
and the single was re-issued - and charted all over again (this
time reaching the UK Top 20).
Drummer, Barrie Wilson died in October 1990 in a car accident.
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