Elkie Brooks

Once dubbed as the UK's answer to Janis Joplin due to her raw, bluesy vocal style, Elkie Brooks enjoyed her biggest success in 1975 with the crossover hit Pearl's A Singer. The sister of Billy J Kramer & The Dakotas drummer Tony Mansfield, she was raised in Lancashire in the north of England, made her debut at 13 and became so popular on the cabaret circuit she turned professional two years later. Brooks released her first single - a cover of Etta James's Something's Got A Hold On Me - in 1965 and toured with many of the biggest bands of the 1960s, including The Beatles, The Animals and The Small Faces. She fronted Dada, a 12-piece, Stax-influenced jazz rock fusion band - which also featured singer Robert Palmer - releasing one album in 1970 and then formed Vinegar Joe with another Dada member Pete Gage, who she later married. The rawness of Brooks' vocals and her wildness on stage drew the Janis Joplin comparisons, launching her solo career when Vinegar Joe split in 1974. Gaining plenty of attention for its raunchy sleeve, her debut solo album Rich Man's Woman followed in 1975, triggering a long run of acclaimed albums. The most successful of these, Pearls, released in 1981, was the biggest selling album by a UK female artist at the time, including another major hit single with a cover of Chris Rea's Fool (If You Think It's Over). She continued to be a popular live performer and in 2003 appeared in the reality TV series Reborn In The USA, releasing her 20th album Powerless in 2010.