Elkie Brooks
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Elkie Brooks (February 25, 1945) is a British singer, formerly a vocalist with Vinegar Joe, and later a solo artist. Brooks grew up in Broughton, Salford and attended North Manchester High Scool for Girls in Moston, Manchester. Her real name is Elaine Bookbinder.
A professional singer since she was 15, 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 60s on Britain's jazz scene, then met husband Pete Gage and joined 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 vocalist with American southern boogie band Wet Willie, she returned to England. Her well-received but commercially unsuccessful Rich Man's Woman (1975) was a final flop before a run of 15 UK hit albums in 20 years, starting with Two Days Away (1977) and the hits "Pearl's A Singer", "Sunshine After The Rain" and "Lilac Wine".
Then turning her attention to increasingly MOR collections, 'Shooting Star' (1978), 'Live And Learn' (1979), 'Pearls' (at the time, the largest selling album by a British female artist) (1981), the covers based 'Pearls II' (1982), 'Minutes' (1984), and 'Screen Gems' (1985) were all creditable successes, but a UK chart renaissance came with No More The Fool (1987). After that, Brooks has remained a popular live artist and returned to her roots with Round Midnight (1993) and Nothin' But The Blues (1994).
In March 2003 she starred in the ITV music talent show Reborn in the USA, alongside musicians such as Sonia Evans, Tony Hadley and Gina G.
Her "Electric Lady" album (2005) saw her continuing in the classic blues vein and a live DVD was issued of her Shepherds Bush, London concert. This, however, was technically of poor quality and has been effecitvely disowned by her. A special concert was arranged in August 2005 to film the Elkie & Friends DVD released to critical acclaim and featuring guest artists Humphrey Lyttelton, Rick Wakeman & Sarah Jory.
"Elkie Brooks is still one of the great British voices." [1]
[edit] References
- Denselow, Robin. "Arts reviews: Elkie Brooks", The Guardian, 9 Sep 2005.
