who sang a whiter shade of pale first
Procol Harum British rock band Procol Harum
title: A Whiter Shade of Pale text: A Whiter Shade of Pale "A Whiter Shade of Pale" is the debut single by the British rock band Procol Harum, released 12 May 1967. The single reached number 1 in the UK Singles Chart on 8 June 1967 and stayed there for six weeks. Without much promotion, it reached number 5 on the "Billboard" pop chart in the United States. One of the anthems of the 1967 Summer of Love, it is one of the best selling singles in history, having sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. With its Bach-derived instrumental melody, soulful vocals, and unusual lyrics – title: A Whiter Shade of Pale text: Shade of Pale" at Olympic Sound Studios in London, England. The recording was produced by Denny Cordell. Because they did not have a regular drummer, the drums were played by Bill Eyden, a session musician. The track was completed in two takes, with no subsequent overdubbing. A few days after the session, the band re-recorded the song with their newly recruited drummer, Bobby Harrison, at Advision Studios. This version was discarded, and one of the original mono recordings was chosen for release as the band's debut single. The B-side was "Lime Street Blues", another Brooker–Reid song, which the band recorded title: A Whiter Shade of Pale text: Burns and Lynn Novick's documentary series "The Vietnam War". Cover versions of the song have also been featured in many films, for example, by King Curtis in "Withnail and I" and by Annie Lennox in "The Net". The original writing credits were for Brooker and Reid only. On 30 July 2009, Matthew Fisher won co-writing credit for the music in a unanimous ruling from the Law Lords. Keith Reid got the title and starting point for the song at a party. He overheard someone at the party saying to a woman, "You've turned a whiter shade of pale", and the title: A Whiter Shade of Pale text: in 2005, Jim Irvin of "Mojo" said that its arrival at number 1 on 8 June 1967, on the same day that the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" topped the national albums chart, marked the start of the Summer of Love in Britain. According to music historian Harvey Kubernik, in the context of the Summer of Love, "A Whiter Shade of Pale" was the "one song [that] stood above all others, its Everest-like status conferred by no less than John Lennon and Paul McCartney, who were enthralled by the Chaucerian wordplay and heavenly Baroque accompaniment". Kubernik also writes title: A Whiter Shade of Pale text: 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In 1977, the song was named joint winner (along with Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody") of "The Best British Pop Single 1952–1977" at the Brit Awards. In 1998 the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. More than 1000 recorded cover versions by other artists are known. The song has been included in many music compilations over the decades and has also been used in the soundtracks of numerous films, including "The Big Chill", "Purple Haze", "Breaking the Waves", "The Boat That Rocked", Martin Scorsese's segment of "New York Stories", "Stonewall", "Oblivion" and Ken