Elkie Brooks
Elkie Brooks...blues, rock, pop and jazz singers. An icon in the U.K. She signed with A&M Records in the United States in 1975--at least 15 years into her career. Her manager Alan Seyffert told Music Week, "We signed because we believe in the company and in fact turned down better money to do so." Brooks' tenure with A&M was longer in the U.K. than it was in the U.S.
It was the A&M single "Pearl's a Single" that gave Elkie her first Top 10 hit.
Elkie Brooks, Britain's Queen of the Blues. In 1997 the Guinness Book of Records included Ellie as "having the most number of top 75 albums of any British female artist."
Her Pearls I album was the biggest selling recording by a British woman in the U.K. in 1981. Pearls I and Pearls II were on the British charts for 105 weeks and sold well over 1.5 million units by 1984.
Her contract with A&M Records stipulated that her recordings would remain with A&M in perpetuity.
The cover of her debut album for A&M, Rich Man's Woman, was considered "outrageous".
Screen Gems was recorded live in four sessions at Angel Studios with a 50-piece orchestra. A&M released the CD first for a limited time with vinyl album and cassette released weeks later.
OFFICIAL PROMOTION BY A&M RECORDS
Rich Man's Woman New Music On A&M Records
Two Days Away New Music On A&M Records
Elkie Brooks: Live and Learn
Official autobiography:
Finding My Voice by Elkie Brooks (2012-07-09)
Elkie Brooks Is City Bound. Eamon Sweeney. Londonderry Sentinel, April 1, 2009.
Going Solo. Rex Anderson. Music Week, December 6, 1975.