Wire report
Elkie Brooks looks back: ‘Before I went on stage I used to drink Guinness and a few shots of brandy’
The singer-songwriter on her rock’n’roll past, playing second fiddle to the Beatles, and the key to being an energetic performer in your 80s Born Elaine Bookbinder in Salford in 1945, Elkie Brooks is a rock, blues and jazz singer known as the British Queen of Blues. She spent much of the 1960s on the cabaret circuit, during which time she supported the Beatles. She joined Dada in 1970, before forming Vinegar Joe with Robert Palmer in 1971. She went solo after their split, breaking through with Pearl’s a Singer and Sunshine After the Rain, scoring 13 UK Top 75 singles. A celebration of six decades in music, The Long Farewell Tour, is now on the road. This is me in a white jumpsuit outside the Royal Albert Hall in London. I have very few memories of the gig, but I know I would have felt daunted as it’s such a large venue. To overcome the nerves, I’d have tried to focus on th
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The singer-songwriter on her rock’n’roll past, playing second fiddle to the Beatles, and the key to being an energetic performer in your 80s Born Elaine Bookbinder in Salford in 1945, Elkie Brooks is a rock, blues and jazz singer known as the British Queen of Blues. She spent much of the 1960s on the cabaret circuit, during which time she supported the Beatles. She joined Dada in 1970, before forming Vinegar Joe with Robert Palmer in 1971. She went solo after their split, breaking through with Pearl’s a Singer and Sunshine After the Rain, scoring 13 UK Top 75 singles. A celebration of six decades in music, The Long Farewell Tour, is now on the road. This is me in a white jumpsuit outside the Royal Albert Hall in London. I have very few memories of the gig, but I know I would have felt daunted as it’s such a large venue. To overcome the nerves, I’d have tried to focus on th
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According to The Guardian’s source item, Elkie Brooks looks back: ‘Before I went on stage I used to drink Guinness and a few shots of brandy’, The singer-songwriter on her rock’n’roll past, playing second fiddle to the Beatles, and the key to being an energetic performer in your 80s Born Elaine Bookbinder in Salford in 1945, Elkie Brooks is a rock, blues and jazz singer known as the British Queen of Blues. She spent much of the 1960s on the cabaret circuit, during which time she supported the Beatles. She joined Dada in 1970, before forming Vinegar Joe with Robert Palmer in 1971. She went solo after their split, breaking through with Pearl’s a Singer and Sunshine After the Rain, scoring 13 UK Top 75 singles. A celebration of six decades in music, The Long Farewell Tour, is now on the road. This is me in a white jumpsuit outside the Royal Albert Hall in London. I have very few memories of the gig, but I know I would have felt daunted as it’s such a large venue. To overcome the nerves, I’d have tried to focus on th
Context
The development sits in VINI’s Culture file for readers following arts, entertainment, fashion, film, music, celebrity, and the business of culture. The original report is linked so readers can check the source account, follow later updates, and compare new coverage against the first published record. The source item is dated 2026-09-13T13:00:06+00:00.
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Source
Primary source: Elkie Brooks looks back: ‘Before I went on stage I used to drink Guinness and a few shots of brandy’ via The Guardian. VINI cites and links the source; it does not reproduce the publisher’s full article text without rights clearance.
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- Elkie Brooks looks back: ‘Before I went on stage I used to drink Guinness and a few shots of brandy’The Guardian - 2026-09-13T13:00:06+00:00
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