Procol court victory

Front man of band wins rights to hit song

04 April 2008 - Procol Harum founder Gary Brooker has just won his court battle to reclaim full copyright control of the band's most famous hit - A Whiter Shade of Pale.

The rights to the 1967 hit were discussed at the Court Of Appeal in London.

Back in 2006, London's High Court awarded former keyboard player Matthew Fisher 40 percent of the copyright of the track but it has now been overturned.

Matthew Fisher had argued he had written the song's organ melody but the court ruled there was an "excessive delay" in the claim being made - nearly 40 years after the song was recorded.

The Court of Appeal agreed that Mr Fisher had contributed the organ theme but ruled that he should receive no money from past or future royalties.

"I would hope that now we can all get on with our lives"
Gary Brooker - Front man

Mr Brooker, who still fronts Procol Harum, said in a statement: "For nearly three years, this claim has been a great strain upon myself and my family.

"I believe the original trial was unfair and the results wrong.

"Justly, the decisions of the Court of Appeal have gone some way to putting this right and I would hope that now we can all get on with our lives."

Mr Brooker told BBC Radio 4 that he had always been happy to recognise Matthew Fisher's contribution to the record.

He said: "Having always thought that I'd written it and that never having been challenged in any different form, although I'd worked with Matthew of course over forty years. It was a big surprise and one which I absolutely wanted to defend."

He continued: "When somebody writes a song and then people go in and interpret it and play it in their way, you know because that's what they're paid to do, it doesn't mean that you have composed it.

"I mean I don't think the trumpet player on Penny Lane went and asked Lennon-McCartney for part of their royalties.

"He's always had, I wouldn't call it a grudge, but it's always felt that he should have been recognised for playing the organ on A Whiter Shade of Pale. 

"I always thought he had been recognised for playing the organ. Nobody else played it. Matthew played it."

Neither Mr Brooker or Mr Fisher were in court to hear this ruling.

A Whiter Shade Of Pale reached Number One in the charts on its release, and was reported to be John Lennon's favourite song of 1967.

The track has sold an estimated 10 million copies worldwide.

Kelly Stooke