By now the band's line up was made up of singer / keyboardist Gary Brooker, non-performing lyricist Keith Reid, organist Matthew Fisher, bassist David Knights, guitarist Ray Royer and drummer Bobby Harrison. The band's first single, "A Whiter Shade Of Pale", shot up the record charts on both sides of the Atlantic and by July, 1967 was the number one selling song in the world and instantly defined something new: 'Classical Rock'. It's the melding of Rock's electric guitar, powerful vocals and bombastic drums with thoughtful lyrics and the artful complexities of classical melody and arrangement. The song was performed and recorded at Olympic Studios in London, England, using session drummer Bill Eyden. A few days later, the song was re-recorded with the band's drummer Bobby Harrison, but that version was discarded and one of the original mono recordings was chosen for release. At the height of the song's popularity, the group was already fractured by changes in personnel, as two band members were let go in favor of two former Paramounts. By the time people learned what the band's name meant, the group's stunning #1 reign was over. Their subsequent singles were compared to Procol Harum's early success and hopes for more million-sellers led to frustration. "A Whiter Shade of Pale" was the hit of 1967 and it burdened the band with a legend they couldn't live up to. A follow-up single called "Homburg" reached #6 in the UK, but stalled at #34 in America. At the time, the idea of an album band was just becoming a reality. Record companies still were obsessed with the hit single. As the '60s ended and the '70s began, the band went five years without a hit, but they produced consistently rewarding albums.

"A Salty Dog", their third LP, turned out to be one of the group's most accessible, best-selling efforts. After the album was completed, producer-writer-singer Matthew Fisher departed. He had not had much opportunity to sing (a solo on one or two songs at best) and most of the songs were by Brooker and Reid. There wasn't even a Brooker / Reid / Fisher credit for "A Whiter Shade of Pale", despite Matthew's trademark organ work, which, contrary to popular belief, was not lifted directly from anything by Bach, but was only inspired by a few passages in his work. At the turn of the '70s, Chris Copping came in to replace both Fisher on organ and David Knights on bass. This turned Procol Harum into The Paramounts again. Chris had actually been an original member of the old group, but left in 1962 before the band began recording (with Diz Derrick his replacement on bass). Reforming the former band mates seemed to signal a return to R&B. Although it had seemed that the band was rock solid, the old friends were not getting on that well. Years later, Robin Trower would say that he was simply sick of 'that organ and piano sound.' His efforts to add more guitar were not always met with enthusiasm. Not only were his band mates less than happy, critics voiced opposition as well.

Musically, Procol Harum had always been split between Hard Rock and Classical Rock. Although the group often combined the two into a brilliant fusion, the albums always leaned toward one side or the other. After Trower's departure, Procol turned completely to the Classical side with "Live at Edmonton", a symphonic exercise released in the Winter of 1972. For the first time in five years, the band cracked the American Top 20 with their rousing new version of "Conquistador", which topped out at #16. The song, ironically enough, was on that first album from 1967. With bold brass and violin'd percussion, the Edmonton orchestra helped turn the album a dazzling shade of gold.

The group's new-found mass appeal allowed them to join Warner Brothers / Chrysalis with a bigger budget to explore their Classical-Rock identity. The result was "Grand Hotel", an exquisite blend of elegant classicism wired with the gut of Rock. It drew instant acclaim and was in Billboard's Top 100 for five months. Gary Brooker's enthusiasm for re-creating a Classical-Rock fusion had restored the band to fame. There were more mediocre albums which were soon forgotten, especially by Warner Brothers / Chrysalis, who barely showed much interest in promoting them. The band broke up in 1977 after seeing "Something Magic" stall at #147 on the Billboard 200 chart. They reunited for a single performance five months later, when "A Whiter Shade of Pale" was named joint winner (along with Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody") of the Best British Pop Single 1952–1977 at the BRIT Awards, part of Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee. Brooker and Fisher emerged as a solo artists and were reduced to making a guest appearance on somebody else's record, producing a semi-unknown singer, or playing in the background at someone else's concert.

On September 25th, 1991, Gary Brooker and Matthew Fisher began touring again as Procol Harum. Robin Trower had declined to join them, and the guys who had been on Brooker's last solo album were now Procol band members. There was an ominous note in the booklet of the new album declaring it was 'dedicated to Barrie James (B.J.) Wilson who will always be with us.' Most Procol fans, had no idea that he had been in a coma for some time. And that, on October 8th, 1990, he had passed away.

The new "Prodigal Stranger" album showed early promise, but didn't sell well. The 1995 "Symphonic Procol Harum" wasn't an official Procol Harum release, but it did have Gary Brooker, Matthew Fisher and Robin Trower and some guest vocalists. It was followed by "Within Our House", a solo CD from Brooker that included the new Brooker / Reid title track and a few old and new Procol numbers backed by a choir, string quartet and various Procol band members, including bassist Dave Bronze and drummer Mark Brzezicki.

The band was back in the news in May, 2005 when original keyboard player Matthew Fisher launched a lawsuit claiming that his organ solo entitled him to a share of the royalties for "A Whiter Shade Of Pale". The ruling came down in December, 2006 when the judge agreed with Fisher, granting him both song writing credit and 40% of the royalties earned from the song from the time the suit was launched. The judge said the organ solo in the song "is a distinctive and significant contribution to the overall composition and quite obviously the product of skill and labor on the part of the person who created it." Lead singer Gary Brooker and lyricist Keith Reid have always claimed credit for the hit and said they wrote the song before Fisher joined the band in March, 1967. In a statement, the two said Fisher's court victory created a dangerous precedent because it meant any musician who had played on any recording in the last forty years could claim joint authorship. They immediately filed an appeal, however, in July, 2009, Matthew Fisher won a British court judgment awarding him 40% of the music royalties from 2005 onwards.

Procol Harum had toured Switzerland, Norway and Denmark in 2006 and much of Europe in 2007, but there was no band activity in 2008. Shows in Norway and Finland were scheduled for July, 2009, but Gary Brooker's vocals were severely hampered after he fell off a pile of road-side logs in Finland and broke several ribs. It took until October of that year before Brooker was fully recovered and the band went on to four concerts in Hagen (Germany), Drammen (Norway), Moscow and St Petersburg. A four disc retrospective called "All This and More", was released in the Fall of 2009.

2010 brought the group to Canada, Italy, Germany, Poland and the UK before returning to the United States in support of their album, "The Spirit Of Nokken". Over 13,000 people saw eight concerts with the Danish Radio Orchestra in Copenhagen and other Danish cities in January 2011. 2012 had them booked in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Denmark where they performed cuts from their latest LP, "MNX". 2013 included a European tour and 2014 brought them back to Canada and the U.S. Although they still enjoyed a loyal fan base, none of the band's last six albums, dating back to 1999, have charted in Great Britain or America. With a line-up of Matt Pegg on bass guitar, Geoff Whitehorn on lead guitar, Gary Brooker on piano and vocals, Josh Phillips on Hammond organ and Geoff Dunn on drums, the band played a handful of shows in Europe in 2015 and had several more booked in 2016 and 2017. For 2018 they heavily booked for shows across Europe in support of a limited-edition, box set called "Still There'll Be More", celebrating fifty years of their music. On April 14th, 2018, "A Whiter Shade Of Pale" was among the initial inductees into the The Hall Of Fame Singles category at Cleveland's Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

In January, 2019 the band announced plans to embark on a thirteen show, North American tour in support of their 2017 album, "Novum". "We haven't visited the USA since July 2014, and this has enabled us to have the new material from our studio album plus favorites and rarities from the past fifty years," said Gary Brooker. "It's a long time, but Procol is always current." The tour was set to kick off on February 17th in Atlanta, Georgia and wrap up in Boston on March 5th. Plans for 2020 were shelved due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On March 4th, 2021, Alan Cartwright, Procol Harum's bassist from 1971 to 1976, died at the age of 75. Pianist Gary Brooker died of cancer on February 19th, 2022. Lyricist Keith Reid passed away on March 23rd, 2023 at the age of 76 after battling cancer for the last few years of his life.


For more about Procol Harum, be sure to read Gary James' Interview With Robin Trower