The Brook Brothers were an English

English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 pop

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 duo

Duet (music)

A duet is a musical composition for two performers. In classical music, the term is most often used for a composition for two singers or pianists; with other instruments, the word duo is also often used. A piece performed by two pianists performing together on the same piano is referred to as...

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

Winchester

Winchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...

, Hampshire

Hampshire

Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...

) and Ricky Brook (born Richard Alan Brooks, 24 October 1940, Winchester, Hampshire).

The Brook Brothers started out as a skiffle

Skiffle

Skiffle is a type of popular music with jazz, blues, folk, roots and country influences, usually using homemade or improvised instruments. Originating as a term in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century, it became popular again in the UK in the 1950s, where it was mainly...

 group in 1956, and after winning a television talent show

Talent show

A talent show is an event where participants perform their talent or talents of acting, singing, dancing, acrobatics, drumming, martial arts, playing an instrument, and other activities to showcase a unique form of talent, sometimes for a reward, trophy or prize...

, changed their look and sound to approximate the style of The Everly Brothers

The Everly Brothers

The Everly Brothers are country-influenced rock and roll performers, known for steel-string guitar playing and close harmony singing...

. They signed to Top Rank Records in 1960 and released a cover

Cover version

In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

 of the song "Greenfields" by The Brothers Four

The Brothers Four

The Brothers Four are an American folk singing group, founded in 1957 in Seattle, Washington, known for their 1960 hit song "Greenfields".-History:...

 the same year. The tune was a hit

Hit record

A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...

 in Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 but attracted little notice in their home country. After a few more singles were released, they switched to Pye Records

Pye Records

Pye Records was a British record label. In its first incarnation, perhaps Pye's best known artists were Lonnie Donegan , Petula Clark , The Searchers , The Kinks , Sandie Shaw and Brotherhood of Man...

, and their second release for them, "Warpaint" (written

Songwriter

A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

 by Howard Greenfield

Howard Greenfield

Howard Greenfield was an American lyricist and songwriter, who for several years in the 1960s worked out of the famous Brill Building...

 and Barry Mann

Barry Mann

Barry Mann is an American songwriter, and part of a successful songwriting partnership with his wife, Cynthia Weil.-Career:...

), became a UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 Top 5 hit. This song was also recorded

Sound recording and reproduction

Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...

 by Bill Haley

Bill Haley

Bill Haley was one of the first American rock and roll musicians. He is credited by many with first popularizing this form of music in the early 1950s with his group Bill Haley & His Comets and their hit song "Rock Around the Clock".-Early life and career:...

, among others.

Following the single

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

's success they released a full-length album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

 and toured with Cliff Richard

Cliff Richard

Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....

 and Bobby Rydell

Bobby Rydell

Bobby Rydell is an American professional singer, mainly of rock and roll music. In the early 1960s he was considered a so-called "teen idol"...

. They took part in the annual NME

NME

The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

Readers' Poll-Winners Concert at London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

's Wembley Pool on 15 April 1962. They were produced

Record producer

A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

 by a young Tony Hatch

Tony Hatch

Anthony Peter "Tony" Hatch is an English composer, songwriter, pianist, music arranger and producer.-Early life and early career:...

, and made an appearance in the film

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

, It's Trad, Dad!

It's Trad, Dad!

It's Trad, Dad! , known in the U.S. as Ring-A-Ding Rhythm, is a musical comedy. The film was one of the first films put out by predominantly horror company Amicus Productions, and one of director Richard Lester's first films.-Plot:...

. They also entered A Song For Europe for the Eurovision Song Contest 1962

Eurovision Song Contest 1962

The Eurovision Song Contest 1962 was the seventh in the series. France's win was their third and marked the first time a country had won three contests. Austria, Belgium, Netherlands, and Spain all scored "null points" for the first time....

, 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

Compact Disc

The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...

 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" - Pye
  Pye Records
  Pye Records was a British record label. In its first incarnation, perhaps Pye's best known artists were Lonnie Donegan , Petula Clark , The Searchers , The Kinks , Sandie Shaw and Brotherhood of Man...
  
   7N 15333 - UK
  UK Singles Chart
  The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
  
  #5
• 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