Procol Harum singer wins suit

The lead singer of the British band Procol Harum won an appeals court judgment Friday awarding him the full royalties to the iconic hit, “A Whiter Shade of Pale.”

Britain’s Court of Appeal ruling for rock star Gary Brooker overturned a lower court decision granting the group’s former organist 40% of the millions of dollars in royalties from the song.

The appeals court agreed that Matthew Fisher, who played the haunting organ theme, was entitled to co-authorship but said he would receive no money from past or future royalties.

Lord Justice John Mummery said Fisher was “guilty of excessive and inexcusable delay in asserting his claim.”

Fisher, who quit the band in 1969 and is now a computer programmer in London, filed his claim to joint ownership nearly 40 years after the song was recorded and became one of the anthems of the 1967 “Summer of Love.” The record has sold 10 million copies, and Rolling Stone magazine has ranked the song 57th on a list of the 500 greatest of all time.