Procol Harum Members Due In Court

Sixties rock act Procol Harum are set to go to court over a dispute about the song-writing on their biggest hit ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale.’

The group’s ex-keyboard player Matthew Fisher is claiming that he wrote the seminal organ line and deserves a cut of the copyright.

The 1967 hit has been long attributed solely to lyricist Keith Reid and singer Gary Brooker.

Fisher and Brooker will go head to head at the High Court in London over the case, with experts and witnesses due to give statements in court.

Mr Brooker said in a statement on the band’s official website: “‘A Whiter Shade Of Pale’ was written by Keith Reid and me before Matthew even joined the band.

“I am shocked and dismayed that after Matthew had worked with us quite happily over the course of 40 years without him once alleging that his role on ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’ was anything other than as a musician, it is only now that he claims he recalls writing part of the song.

"People can draw their own conclusions from this."

Mr Fisher’s solicitor Mike Shepherd told the BBC: “My client has always maintained he wrote the parts, or composed the parts, he claims he composed."