Procol Harum was one of the finest British progressive rock, art rock, psychedelic rock, and classic rock bands of the 1960s. Founded in 1967 in the picturesque coastal city of Southend-on-Sea in the ceremonial county of Essex, East of England, and revolving around singer-songwriter, keyboardist, and frontman Gary Brooker, the group rose to prominence both in the United Kingdom and worldwide with the well known single ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’ which was released on 12 May 1967. This remarkable, wonderful, and timeless song represents a beautiful reference in the history of rock music (and, I dare say, in the history of music in general) given the fact that it was a massive commercial success during the year when it was released and also taking into account the fact that it was inspired by classical music composer Johann Sebastian Bach. In point of fact, it managed to be such a great commercial success that it is among the few singles in music history to have sold over 10 million copies, becoming as such one of the few biggest-selling singles in music history.

Procol Harum in the year in which they were formed, namely in 1967. Image source: Wikimedia Commons

The single ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’, the band’s breakthrough single which enjoyed both critical and commercial success in 1967, was inspired by Johann Sebastian Bach in terms of the keyboard composition. Image source: Wikimedia Commons
Below you can watch one of the versions of the music video for ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’ embedded via YouTube (note the Dandy, elegant, even Hippie-based clothes of the band members; that was quite an interesting fashion among many British bands among the 1960s, most notably, now come to think of it, Pink Floyd as well, namely during the Syd Barrett-led era):
Trivia: the band named themselves after a male blue Burmese cat
Documentation sources and external links:
- A Whiter Shade of Pale on www.wikipedia.org (in English)
- The band’s Wikipedia page on www.wikipedia.org (in English)
- Procol Harum on www.britannica.com (Encyclopædia Britannica online)
- The band’s page on www.last.fm
- The story behind ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’ by Procol Harum on www.faroutmagazine.co.uk
- You’ve Turned A Whiter Shade Of Pale! on www.thisdayinmusic.com
- The story behind Procol Harum’s A Whiter Shade Of Pale on www.loudersound.com