Beschrijving
Elkie Brooks (born Elaine Bookbinder, 25 February 1945)[1] is an English singer, a vocalist with the bands Dada and Vinegar Joe, and later a solo artist. She gained her biggest success in the late 1970s and 1980s and has been nominated twice for Brit Awards. She is known for her powerful husky voice and hit singles such as “Pearl’s a Singer”, “Lilac Wine”, “Don’t Cry Out Loud”, “Fool (If You Think It’s Over)”, and “No More the Fool”, and top-selling album Pearls. She is generally referred to as the “British Queen of Blues”.[2][3] By April 2012, Brooks had released more albums that had reached the top 75 of the UK album chart than any other British female artist.
Early career and Vinegar Joe
Elkie Brooks was born Elaine Bookbinder in Broughton, Salford, the daughter of Marjorie Violet “Vi” and Kalmon Charles “Charlie” Bookbinder. Her paternal grandparents and great-grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Kielce,Russian Poland. Her mother, who had been born to a Catholic family, converted to Judaism.[5] She was raised in Prestwich. She attended North Salford Secondary Modern School.
When she was 13 years old. She first sang professionally at the age of 15, and 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.[6] In the mid 1960s she supported the Beatles.In the early to mid-1970s, Brooks was married to guitarist Pete Gage. On 1 March 1978, she married her sound engineer, Trevor Jordan. They are still married, live in Devon and have two sons, Jermaine (born 22 December 1979) and Joseph (born 31 December 1986)
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,
