Gary Brooker, frontman of rock band Procol Harum, dies at 76

Gary Brooker of the English rock band Procol Harum has died at age 76

LONDON -- Gary Brooker, the Procol Harum frontman who sang one of the 1960s' most enduring hits, “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” has died. He was 76.

The English rock band said Brooker died at his home on Saturday. He had been receiving treatment for cancer.

A statement posted on the band’s official website said: “With the deepest regret we must announce the death on February 19 2022 of Gary Brooker MBE, singer, pianist and composer of Procol Harum, and a brightly-shining, irreplaceable light in the music industry.”

The London-born Brooker was singer and keyboard player with the band, which had a huge hit with its first single, “A Whiter Shade of Pale.” With its Baroque-flavored organ solo and mysterious opening line - “We skipped the light fandango, turned cartwheels cross the floor" — the song became one of the signature tunes of the 1967 “Summer of Love.”