Keith Reid, Lyricist for Procol Harum, Dead at 76

Keith Reid, the first lyricist for Procol Harum, has died at the age of 76.

The songwriter’s passing was confirmed by the band, who posted a tribute to Reid on their Facebook web page.

“We are sad to hear of the death of Keith Reid,” the message started. “An unparalleled lyricist, Keith wrote the words to virtually all Procol Harum songs, as well as co-writing the John Farnham hit ‘You’re the Voice.’ His lyrics were one of a kind and helped to shape the music created by the band. His imaginative, surreal and multi-layered words were a joy to Procol fans and their complexity by design was a powerful addition [to] the Procol Harum catalog. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends.”

Born in Hertfordshire, England in 1946, Reid left college at an early age to pursue a profession in songwriting. He met singer Gary Brooker in 1966, who at that time had departed his earlier group, the Paramounts. Reid and Brooker rapidly developed a kinship and commenced writing collectively. Initially the fabric was meant for different artists, however when the 2 couldn’t discover sufficient curiosity of their work, they opted to create a band of their very own.

Brooker can be entrance and middle as Procol Harum’s vocalist, whereas Reid remained the band’s main lyricist. Though the group went via a variety of lineup modifications, with many musicians coming and going, Brooker and Reid remained regular forces in Procol Harum throughout the band’s preliminary run from 1967 to 1977.

During that time-frame, the band launched 9 studio albums. Their most profitable single additionally occurred to be their first. Released May 12, 1967, “A Whiter Shade of Pale” hit No. 1 within the U.Ok. and No. 5 in America. It bought greater than 10 million copies throughout the Summer of Love, rating it among the many best-selling singles in historical past.

“It’s kind of a movie, actually, attempting to conjure up temper and inform a narrative,” Reid famous to Songfacts in 2009, explaining the observe’s lyrics. “It’s about a relationship. There’s characters and there’s a location, and there’s a journey. You get the sound of the room and the feel of the room and the smell of the room. But certainly there’s a journey going on, it’s not a collection of lines just stuck together. It’s got a thread running through it.”

Listen to ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’

While Procol Harum maintained a passionate fanbase, they never released a song that matched “A Whiter Shade of Pale”’s business success. Follow-up single “Homburg” hit No. 6 within the U.Ok. and No. 34 in America, whereas 1972’s “Conquistador” peaked at No. 22 and 16, respectively.

When Procol Harum broke up in 1977, Reid started writing for different artists. In the mid-‘80s, he founded a management company in New York, before later reuniting with Brooker and Procol Harum in 1991. He contributed to two further albums with the group, The Prodigal Stranger (1991) and The Well’s on Fire (2003). Procol Harum’s last album, Novum, was launched in 2017, however Reid didn’t contribute to the LP.