"Pearl's a Singer" is a song made famous by the British singer

Elkie Brooks Elkie Brooks (born Elaine Bookbinder; 25 February 1946) 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 198 ...

, as taken from her 1977 album ''

Two Days Away ''Two Days Away'' is an album by Elkie Brooks, released in 1977. Background Brooks' breakthrough second album, released in 1977, propelled her into solo stardom in the UK and Europe. Including the top ten hits "Pearl's a Singer" and "Sunshine Af ...

'' which was produced by the song's co-writers

Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller Lyricist Jerome Leiber (April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011) and composer Michael Stoller (born March 13, 1933) were American songwriting and record producing partners. They found success as the writers of such crossover hit songs as " Hound Dog" ( ...

. 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. The song is a

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

, telling the story of a failed singer who still dreams of the success she might have had.

History

Brooks would recall that at a rehearsal session for her ''Two Days Away'' album "Jerry Leiber

aid In international relations, aid (also known as international aid, overseas aid, foreign aid, economic aid or foreign assistance) is – from the perspective of governments – a voluntary transfer of resources from one country to another. Ai ...

'I want to play you this song, I don't think you're going to like it, it's too countryish for you but I'll play it for you anyway.'...I said: 'Go on, I've got an open mind, I like a lot of country usic' I listened to 'Pearl's a Singer' and told eiber & StollerI liked it but that they needed to odify it witha middle section. To which Jerry said: 'No problem'. And with that he disappeared and came back half an hour later with the odifiedversion of 'Pearl's a Singer'" which Brooks recorded. Brooks - "To be honest n the mid-1970sI just wanted to enjoy myself in music and I never thought 'Pearl...' was going to be a big hit but fterit was released on my birthday in 1977 the record company really pushed it, tgot played on all the radio stations and became very successful. No one was more surprised than me."

Chart performance

"Pearl's a Singer" afforded Elkie Brooks her debut

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

single – thirteen years after she'd recorded her first track – reaching No. 8 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in spring 1977. It remained her highest placing in that chart until "No More the Fool" reached No. 5, in early 1987.

Personnel

*Elkie Brooks – vocals *

Isaac Guillory Isaac Guillory (February 27, 1947 – December 31, 2000) was an American folk guitarist. Career Guillory first began performing in 1965, while still attending St. Johns River State College where he became a member of The Illusions, eventually ...

– guitars *

Jean Roussel Jean Alain Roussel (born 1951 in Port Louis, Mauritius) is a Musician, Composer, Record Producer, Arranger, Educator and 'Music and Life Coach'. He is best known for keyboard work from the 1970s through today, playing regularly with Cat Stev ...

– keyboards *

Trevor Morais Trevor Morais (born 10 October 1944) is an English drummer who has been a member of several notable groups such as Faron's Flamingos, Rory Storm and The Hurricanes, The Peddlers, Quantum Jump and the Elkie Brooks backing band. He is also a ses ...

– drums *Steve York – bass

Additional personnel

* Mike Stoller – keyboards *

Eric Weissberg Eric Weissberg (August 16, 1939 – March 22, 2020) was an American singer, banjo player, and multi-instrumentalist, whose most commercially successful recording was his banjo solo in " Dueling Banjos," featured as the theme of the film ''Deliv ...

– guitars *George Devens – percussion *

Muscle Shoals Horns The Muscle Shoals Horns is an American brass section of session musicians who performed on many rhythm and blues and rock records between the late 1960s to the present, as well as making their own recordings which included the 1976 R&B chart hi ...

**Harrison Calloway (arranger) **Charlie Rose **Harvey Thompson **Ronnie Eades *Meco Monardo (arranger), Tony Posk, Guy Lumia, Elliot Rosoff, Rick Sortonne, Carol Webb, Joe Goodman, Julien Barber, Jesse Levy –

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

*Carl Hall, Peggy Blue, Marry Ellen Johnson – backing vocals

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

1977 singles Elkie Brooks songs Songs written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller 1977 songs A&M Records singles {{1970s-single-stub