Elkie Brooks
Background information
Birth name	Elaine Bookbinder
Born	February 25, 1945 (age 62) Salford, Manchester, England
Genre(s)	Pop/Rock/Jazz/Blues
Occupation(s)	Singer
Instrument(s)	Vocals
Years active	1964 - present
Associated acts	Vinegar Joe, Robert Palmer, Humphrey Lyttelton
Website	http://www.elkiebrooks.com/
Notable instrument(s)
Piano/Fender Rhodes

Elkie Brooks (born Elaine Bookbinder, 25 February 1945, in Salford) is a British singer, formerly a vocalist with Vinegar Joe, and later a solo artist. Long regarded as one of the finest singers the UK has ever produced, Elkie Brooks has acheived a long and varied career entertaining audiences for the past 47 years. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... February 25 is the 56th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_England_(bordered). ... Salford is a city in Greater Manchester in the north-west of England. ... This article is becoming very long. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London (de facto) Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2006 est. ... A music genre is a category (or genre) of pieces of music that share a certain style or basic musical language (van der Merwe 1989, p. ... A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified with the purpose of making music. ... 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1964 calendar). ... Vinegar Joe may mean: nickname for Joseph Stilwell, US general Vinegar Joe (band) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Robert Palmer can refer to: Robert Palmer (British singer) Robert Palmer (author/producer) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Humphrey Lyttelton at the Landmark Arts Centre, 22 April 2006. ... February 25 is the 56th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday. ... Salford is a city in Greater Manchester in the north-west of England. ... Ercole de Roberti: Concert, c. ... Vinegar Joe was a British R&B band in the early 1970s. ... In music, solo means to play or sing alone. ...

Life and career

Brooks grew up in Broughton, Salford and attended North Manchester High School for Girls in Moston, Manchester. // [edit] Broughton as a place name [edit] Australia Port Broughton, South Australia [edit] United Kingdom [edit] England Broughton, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire Broughton, Cambridgeshire Broughton, Craven, North Yorkshire Broughton, Greater Manchester Broughton, Hampshire Broughton, Kent Broughton, Lancashire Broughton, Lincolnshire Broughton, Milton Keynes Broughton, Northamptonshire Broughton Sulney Nottinghamshire Broughton, Oxfordshire Broughton, Ryedale, North... Moston is the name of: Moston, Greater Manchester, a suburb in the city of Manchester, UK. Moston (Chester), Cheshire, a Civil Parish north of Chester Moston (Congleton), Cheshire, a Civil Parish west of Sandbach This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise... This article is becoming very long. ...

A professional singer since she was fifteen, Elkie Brooks' debut, a cover of Etta James' "Something's Got A Hold On Me" was released on Decca in 1964. She spent most of the 1960s on Britain's jazz scene, then met husband Pete Gage and joined the short-lived fusioneers Dada before forming Vinegar Joe with Gage and Robert Palmer. After three albums, they split up in 1974, and Brooks and Palmer both went solo. After a spell as backing singer with the American southern boogie band Wet Willie, she returned to England. Her well-received but commercially unsuccessful Rich Man's Woman (1975) came before a run of sixteen UK hit albums in twenty-five years, starting with Two Days Away (1977) and the hits "Pearl's A Singer", "Sunshine After The Rain" and "Lilac Wine", She also had a very popular, though uncredited, hit in 1977 with the Cat Stevens duet "(Remember the Days of the) Old Schoolyard". Etta James (born Jamesetta Hawkins January 25, 1938 in Los Angeles, California) is an American Blues, R&B and Gospel singer. ... It has been suggested that Decca Music Group be merged into this article or section. ... Jazz is a style of music which originated in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States at around the start of the 20th century. ... The Riptide album was Palmers best selling work. ... Wet Willie is a southern rock band from Alabama, USA. They put out several albums on Capricorn Records between 1970 and 1976. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London (de facto) Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2006 est. ... Lilac Wine is a song written by James Shelton. ... Yusuf Islam [1] (born Steven Demetre Georgiou on 21 July 1948 in London, England) performed under the name Cat Stevens from 1966 to 1978. ...

The albums Shooting Star (1978), Live And Learn (1979), Pearls (at the time, the largest selling album by a British female artist) (1981), Pearls II (1982), Minutes (1984), and Screen Gems (1985) were all creditable chart successes. In 1987 No More The Fool gave Elkie her biggest hit single to date while the parent album reached the top 5. Following chart success ensued with the albums The Very Best Of (1986), Bookbinders Kid (1988), Inspiration (1981), Round Midnight (1993) Nothin' But The Blues (1994), Amazing (1996) and The Very Best Of (1997). Round Midnight is a 1986 film directed by Bertrand Tavernier that tells the story of a tenor saxophone player in Paris in the 1950s who is befriended by a poor Frenchman who idolizes the musician and tries to help him to get out of his life of alcohol abuse. ...

Brooks has an impressive chart run earning her a recognition by the Guiness Book of Records as the most charted British female album artist of the last 30 years. The Pearls album stayed in the charts for an amazing 79 weeks and was still there when her follow-up, Pearls II, charted a year later. The Guinness Book of Records (or in recent editions Guinness World Records, and in previous US editions Guinness Book of World Records) is a book published annually, containing an internationally recognized collection of superlatives: both in terms of human achievement and the extrema of the natural world. ...

In March 2003 she starred in the ITV music talent show Reborn in the USA, alongside musicians such as Peter Cox (Go West Singer), Tony Hadley and Leee John. Being a shy individual she kept a very low profile and many feel she was not able to perform to the standards she is clearly capable of. In the end the show did little for any of its participants even eventual winner Tony Hadley. It has been suggested that Channel 3 (UK) be merged into this article or section. ... Reborn in the USA, was a 2003 ITV reality TV show, in which ten former British pop acts were transported to the USA, where they were not known, in the hope of reviltalising their music career. ... Videotape jacket for Go West Go West 1940 is the 10th Marx Brothers comedy film in which the three brothers, Groucho, Chico, and Harpo, head to the American West and attempt to unite a couple by ensuring that an evil railroad baron is thwarted. ... Tony Hadley (born 2 June 1960) is a British pop singer who fronted the 1980s New Romantic band Spandau Ballet. ... Leee John was born John Lesley McGregor in Hackney of St Lucian descent. ...

Always a popular live attraction, Brooks has toured almost every year for the past 30 years. Her 1982 UK Concert tour was seen by over 140,000 people. She has performed at every major UK theatre inlcuding sell out runs at London's Palladium, Dominion Theatre, Royal Albert Hall, and Wembley Arena.

Her Electric Lady album (2005) saw her return to her blues and rock roots featuring self penned tracks alongside great re-workings of numbers by The Doors, Bob Dylan, Paul Rodgers and Tony Joe White. The following year saw the release of her first official DVD Elkie Brooks & Friends: Pearls featuring an array of guest star musicians. The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles by keyboardist Ray Manzarek, vocalist Jim Morrison, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger. ... Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941), is an American singer-songwriter, author, musician, and poet who has been a major figure in popular music for five decades. ... Paul Rodgers (born 17 December 1949, in Middlesbrough) is an English singer/songwriter known chiefly as a member of the bands Free in the 1960s and Bad Company in the 1970s. ... Tony Joe White (born July 23, 1943 in Goodwill, Louisiana) is a singer and songwriter best known for his 1969 hit Polk Salad Annie, and for Rainy Night in Georgia which he wrote, but which was first made popular by Brook Benton. ...

Elkie has continued to tour relentlessy across the UK averaging 60-70 dates per year, packing theatres and concert halls, with much of the same to come in 2007. The crowd reactions have been nothing short of amazing, with nightly standing ovations and hundreds of glowing comments recieved by her official website.

Miss Brooks is currently working on her 20th Studio album 30 years after her solo debut in 1977.

Still a force to be reckoned with and still a voice to behold, you will be hard pushed to find a better British female singer. At 62 she is at the peak of her powers and is a live act not to be missed.

Discography

Albums

Singles Humphrey Lyttelton at the Landmark Arts Centre, 22 April 2006. ...

"Elkie Brooks is still one of the great British voices." [1] The Way You Do the Things You Do is a 1964 hit single by The Temptations for the Gordy (Motown) label. ... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Lilac Wine is a song written by James Shelton. ... Nights in White Satin is a 1967 song by The Moody Blues, first featured on the album Days of Future Passed. ... Once in a While is a popular song. ... Weve Got Tonight is a 1978 song written by American heartland rocker Bob Seger, off his album Stranger in Town. ... Youre the Inspiration is a song written by Peter Cetera and David Foster for the group Chicago and recorded for their album Chicago 17 (1984), with Cetera singing lead vocals. ...

References

• Denselow, Robin. "Arts reviews: Elkie Brooks", The Guardian, 9 Sep 2005.

External links

• Official website
• Elkie Brooks' management
• Elkie Brooks career on A&M Records with gallery, international discography
• Elkie Brooks Discography at Quasimodobell