Keith Reid, whose words were heard accompanying Procol Harum’s music, has died. He was 76.
In a Facebook statement Wednesday, the English rock band acknowledged the “unparalleled” lyricist’s death, honoring him as someone who “wrote the words to practically all Procol Harum songs” and whose “lyrics were one of a kind and helped to shape the music made by the band.”
“His inventive, strange, and multi-layered lyrics delighted Procol Harum fans and their complexity by design was a potent contribution to the Procol Harum library. We send our condolences to his family and friends,” the message said.
Reid had been getting cancer treatment “for the past couple of years,” according to a statement released by the band to Los Angeles-based media business Sunset Blvd. Records, and “passed abruptly” in a hospital in London.
Although not a performing band member, Reid co-founded it with frontman Gary Brooker, who died of cancer on February 19, 2022, at 76.
The band released 13 albums before disbanding in 1977 after adding bassist Alan Cartwright, guitarist Mick Grabham, drummer B.J. Wilson, and organist Chris Copping.
According to Rolling Stone, the band’s most well-known single was “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” released in 1967. They reassembled as a new incarnation in 1991 and recorded and performed until 2019.
The song, co-written by Reid and Brooker, was entered into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998 and was awarded the BBC’s most-played music in public places in the United Kingdom for the previous 75 years in 2009.
According to Stereogum, the lyricist is famous for establishing a management company in the 1980s. In My Mind, his debut solo album was published in 2018.
