Elkie Brooks (born Elaine Bookbinder; 25 February 1945) is an English rock, blues and jazz singer. She was a vocalist with the bands Dada and Vinegar Joe, and later became a solo artist. She gained her biggest success in the late 1970s and 1980s, releasing 13 UK Top 75 singles, and reached the top ten with "Pearl's a Singer", "Sunshine After the Rain" (both 1977) and "No More the Fool" (1986). She has been nominated twice for the Brit Awards.
Brooks is a Gold Badge Award of Merit winner from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA) (now The Ivors Academy) and is generally referred to as the "British Queen of Blues".
Life and career
Early career and Vinegar Joe
Brooks was born Elaine Bookbinder in Salford, to a Jewish family. Her father's grandparents emigrated to Britain from Poland at the start of the 20th century to escape the pogroms. Her older brothers are Raymond Bookbinder (born 1938) and Anthony Bookbinder (born 28 May 1943).
Whilst still a child, Brooks began singing at barmitzvahs and weddings; according to Brooks, her unofficial debut was a gig at a club called the Laronde on Cheetham Hill Road, Manchester, when she was 13 years old. Aged 15, she won a talent contest in Manchester, leading to her taking part in a pop package tour which was promoted by Don Arden. Her first record, a cover of Etta James's "Something's Got a Hold on Me," was released on Decca in 1964. Brooks spent most of the 1960s on Britain's cabaret scene, a period of her life that she did not particularly enjoy. In the mid 1960s, she supported the Beatles in their Christmas show in London, then, as an established act, helped the Small Faces in their early career by introducing them at several venues. She went on to tour the United States with several bands, including the Animals. She also toured the then communist Poland with Jon Lord's the Artwoods.
In the 1960s, Brooks had begun singing jazz with Humphrey Lyttelton's band, but subsequently changed direction musically. After she met Pete Gage, whom she would marry, she joined the short-lived blues rock fusioneers Dada, before forming Vinegar Joe with Gage and Robert Palmer. Brooks gained the reputation as the wild woman of rock 'n' roll, due to her wild stage performances. After three albums, Vinegar Joe split up in 1974, and Brooks and Palmer pursued separate solo careers. After a time as backing singer with the American southern boogie band Wet Willie, she returned to England.
Solo career and chart success
Brooks' first solo album, released on A & M Records, was Rich Man's Woman (1975). It was released to critical acclaim, but Brooks was criticised because of the album's cover shot of a naked Brooks with a feather boa, which was considered outrageous for the time.
This came before a run of 16 albums in 20 years, starting with Two Days Away (1977), produced by the songwriting duo Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who had previously worked with Elvis Presley; Brooks also wrote tracks with Leiber and Stoller. The hits "Pearl's a Singer" (reaching No. 8 in the UK Singles Chart) and "Sunshine After the Rain" (which reached No. 10) came from this album. 1977 also saw Brooks duet with Cat Stevens on the song "Remember the Days of the Old Schoolyard" which reached No.33 on the Billboard charts and No.44 in UK. The albums Shooting Star (1978) and Live and Learn (1979) also saw success, along with the singles "Lilac Wine" produced and arranged by Mike Batt and "Don't Cry Out Loud". Her polished, powerful cover of Gallagher and Lyle's "The Runaway" saw the Scottish singer-songwriters appear with Brooks on Top of the Pops to provide backing vocals.
In 1980, Brooks performed at the Knebworth Festival with The Beach Boys, Santana and Mike Oldfield. The Pearls album, released in 1981, was the biggest commercial success of her career, charting for 79 weeks and reaching No. 2 in the UK Albums Chart. The album was still in the charts a year later, when Pearls ll (1982) reached No. 5, spending 26 weeks on the charts. The Gus Dudgeon-produced "Fool If You Think It's Over (1981)", written by Chris Rea, was a major hit single for Brooks. Other chart singles followed, with "Our Love", "Nights in White Satin" and "Gasoline Alley", all produced by Dudgeon. The 1984 albums Minutes and Screen Gems were both chart hits in the same year. In 1986, Brooks sang the title theme song for the BBC television series A Very Peculiar Practice. Written by Dave Greenslade, it was never released commercially.