Elkie Brooks
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).[5] She has been nominated twice for the Brit Awards.[6]
Elkie Brooks
Brooks is a Gold Badge Award of Merit winner from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA) (now The Ivors Academy)[7] and is generally referred to as the "British Queen of Blues".[8][9]
Life and career[edit]
Early career and Vinegar Joe[edit]
Brooks was born Elaine Bookbinder in Salford, to a Jewish family.[1][10][11] 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 and Anthony Bookbinder (Tony Mansfield of The Dakotas).
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.[11] 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.[12] 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.[11] After she met Pete Gage, whom she would marry, she joined the short-lived blues rock[1] 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.[13] 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.
Personal life[edit]
In the early to mid-1970s, Brooks was married to guitarist Pete Gage. On 1 March 1978, she married her sound engineer, Trevor Jordan, who had worked with Diana Ross, Rolling Stones, Luciano Pavarotti, Sarah Vaughan and many others. They live in Devon and have two sons, Jermaine (born 22 December 1979) and Joseph (born 31 December 1986).[27] Between 1981 and 2002, they lived in a mansion in a secluded area of North Devon. However, in 1998, after her accountant informed her that he had not been paying her taxes, Brooks found herself in severe debt and was reduced to living in a mobile home. After four years of increasing interest bills and loans, Brooks managed to sell her home (after being threatened with repossession) and cleared all of her debts.[27] In 2000, Brooks' management and tour promotion was taken over by her son, Jermaine, and his wife, Joanna.[28]