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| Pearls | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | November 1981 (UK) | |||
| Recorded | 1977-81 | |||
| Genre | Rock/pop | |||
| Label | A&M | |||
| Producer | Gus Dudgeon | |||
| Elkie Brooks chronology | ||||
| ||||
Pearls is a 1981 album by Elkie Brooks. It is in part a compilation album, featuring earlier singles mixed with newly recorded material. It went on to become a major hit in the UK - the biggest of her career.
With the relative disappointment of her previous album, Live and Learn , A&M decided to release a compilation of her biggest hits and newly recorded material aimed firmly at the middle of the road audience. The new material was produced by Elton John's producer Gus Dudgeon. Pearls peaked at #2 staying in the charts for 79 weeks. It was first released on CD in 1985. Pearls remains Brooks' biggest selling album.
Side One
Side Two
| Chart 1981 | Peak | ref. |
|---|---|---|
| Netherlands Dutch Charts | 49 | [1] |
| Sweden Sverigetopplistan | 40 | [2] |
| UK Albums Chart | 2 | [3] |
Lyricist Jerome Leiber and composer Michael Stoller were American songwriting and record producing partners. They found success as the writers of such crossover hit songs as "Hound Dog" (1952) and "Kansas City" (1952). Later in the 1950s, particularly through their work with The Coasters, they created a string of ground-breaking hits—including "Young Blood" (1957), "Searchin'" (1957), and "Yakety Yak" (1958)—that used the humorous vernacular of teenagers sung in a style that was openly theatrical rather than personal.
Elkie Brooks 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" and the title track of the album No More the Fool. She has been nominated twice for the Brit Awards.
Angus Boyd "Gus" Dudgeon was an English record producer, who oversaw many of Elton John's most acclaimed recordings, including his commercial breakthrough, "Your Song". Their collaboration led to seven US No. 1 albums, and established John as the most successful singles artist of the 1970s. Dudgeon also produced Chris Rea's first hit, the US chart topping "Fool ", and David Bowie's "Space Oddity", and steered many other artists to chart success, including Joan Armatrading and Elkie Brooks. The Guinness Book of Records cites Dudgeon as being the first person to use sampling in music production. He was a founding member of the Music Producers Guild.
Procol's Ninth is the eighth studio album by Procol Harum, and was released in September 1975. Produced by songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Procol's Ninth featured a slightly different direction from the previous album, with a much starker sound than Chris Thomas's more elaborate productions. According to an interview with guitarist Mick Grabham, conducted by Roland Clare for the 2009 reissue, Leiber and Stoller focused less on the production sound and more on "the structure of the songs". The band appeared on the cover of the album in a straightforward unassuming photograph, mirroring the sound of the album itself. The cover featured simulations of each band member's signature.
Two Days Away is an album by Elkie Brooks, released in 1977.
Shooting Star is an album by Elkie Brooks.
Live and Learn is an album by Elkie Brooks, released in 1979.
Pearls II is an album by English singer Elkie Brooks, released in 1982.
The Very Best of Elkie Brooks is a compilation album by Elkie Brooks issued on CD, vinyl and cassette in 1986 through Telstar Records. It reached number 10 and stayed in the UK charts for 18 weeks.
Circles is an album by Elkie Brooks.
Amazing is an album by Elkie Brooks.
The Pearls Concert is an album by Elkie Brooks, recorded in 1997 and released on CD and cassette in 1997 by Artful Records.
The Very Best of Elkie Brooks is a compilation album by Elkie Brooks. Compiled in 1997, it was released on CD and cassette by PolyGram TV.
Priceless is a compilation album by Elkie Brooks.
Master Series is a compilation album by Elkie Brooks. It was issued on CD in 1997 by A&M and distributed only in Germany.
Millennium Edition is a compilation album by Elkie Brooks. It was issued on CD in 2000 by A&M, and is distributed only in Germany.
"Pearl's a Singer" is a song made famous by the British singer Elkie Brooks, as taken from her 1977 album Two Days Away which was produced by the song's co-writers Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. The original version of "Pearl's a Singer" had been introduced by the duo Dino and Sembello – also the song's co-writers – on their 1974 self-titled album which Leiber and Stoller had produced.
No More the Fool is a 1986 album by Elkie Brooks. It includes the title track single which became the biggest hit of Brooks' career. Both the album and single peaked at No. 5 on the UK charts in early 1987.
"Fool " is the title of a popular song originally released in 1978 by the British singer-songwriter Chris Rea. Rea also wrote the lyrics and composed the music of the song, which appears on his 1978 debut album, Whatever Happened to Benny Santini? The single's charting success in the USA earned him a Grammy nomination as Best New Artist in 1979.
Ralph F. Palladino, known as Ralph Dino, and John Anthony Sembello, were an American singing and songwriting duo in the early 1970s. They recorded one album together, which included the original version of the song "Pearl's a Singer", co-written with leading songwriters and record producers Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, and later a hit in the UK for Elkie Brooks.
