The Brook Brothers were an

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composed of Geoff Brook (born Geoffrey Owen Brooks, 12 April 1943,

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

) and Ricky Brook (born Richard Alan Brooks, 24 October 1940, Winchester, Hampshire). The Brook Brothers started out as a

skiffle Skiffle is a genre of folk music with influences from American folk music, blues, country, bluegrass, and jazz, generally performed with a mixture of manufactured and homemade or improvised instruments. Originating as a form in the United States ...

group in 1956 but, after winning a television

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Colin Larkin Colin Larkin (born 1949) is a British writer and entrepreneur. He founded, and was the editor-in-chief of, the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', described by ''The Times'' as "the standard against which all others must be judged". Along wit ...

, ''Virgin Encyclopedia of Sixties Music'', (Muze UK Ltd, 1997), , p. 76 changed their look and sound to approximate the style of

The Everly Brothers The Everly Brothers were an American rock duo, known for steel-string acoustic guitar playing and close harmony singing. Consisting of Isaac Donald "Don" Everly (February 1, 1937 – August 21, 2021) and Phillip "Phil" Everly (January 19, 1939 ...

.Bruce Eder, The Brook Brothersat

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They signed to Top Rank Records in 1960 and released a

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of the song " Greenfields" by The Brothers Four the same year. The tune was a

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but attracted little notice in their home country. After a few more singles were released, they switched to Pye Records, and their second release for them, "Warpaint" ( written by Howard Greenfield and

Barry Mann Barry Mann (born Barry Imberman; February 9, 1939) is an American songwriter and musician, and part of a successful songwriting partnership with his wife, Cynthia Weil. He has written or co-written 53 hits in the UK and 98 in the US. Early li ...

), became a UK Top 5 hit. Following the

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

's success they released a full-length

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and

toured ''Toured (A Live Album)'' was a live album by Huntington Beach pop punk band Big Drill Car. The concert was recorded live at New York's CBGB's on September 3, 1991, at the beginning of a nineteen-week tour known as ''The Batch World Tour'', in su ...

with

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...

and

Bobby Rydell Robert Louis Ridarelli (April 26, 1942 – April 5, 2022), known by the stage name Bobby Rydell, was an American singer and actor who mainly performed rock and roll and traditional pop music. In the early 1960s he was considered a teen idol. His ...

. They took part in the annual ''

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'' Readers' Poll-Winners Concert at

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's Wembley Pool on 15 April 1962. They were

produced Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

by a young

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, and made an appearance in the

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, '' It's Trad, Dad!''. They also entered A Song For Europe for the Eurovision Song Contest 1962, but did not advance in the contest. After their last chart hit, " Trouble Is My Middle Name", in 1963, the group's popularity faded, and they left public view by 1965. Their entire Pye recordings were reissued on CD by Castle Music in the 1990s.

Singles

*1960 " Greenfields" – Top Rank *1960 "Please Help Me I'm Falling" b/w "When Will I Be Loved?" – Top Rank *1961 "Warpaint" b/w "Sometimes" – Pye 7N 15333 – UK #5 *1961 "Little Bitty Heart" b/w "Tell Her" – Pye 7N 15352 *1961 "Ain't Gonna Wash for a Week" – Pye 7N 15369 – UK #13 *1962 "He's Old Enough to Know Better" – Pye 7N 15409 – UK #37 *1962 "Welcome Home Baby" – Pye 7N 15453 – UK #33 *1963 "Trouble Is My Middle Name" – Pye 7N 15498 – UK #38

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brook Brothers, The English pop music duos Pye Records artists Musical groups established in 1956 1956 establishments in England Skiffle groups