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Sheila Bromberg, harpist on Beatles' 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band,' dies at 92
Obituaries
Sheila Bromberg, harpist on Beatles’ ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,’ dies at 92
Sheila Bromberg played on a number of pop albums and in symphony orchestras. (Courtesy of David Laurence)
By Phil Davison
September 10, 2021 at 8:02 p.m. EDT
Sheila Bromberg was a busy harpist in British symphony orchestras when an agent called on March 17, 1967, to offer her a three-hour stint that night as a session musician at the EMI recording studio on Abbey Road in London.
The pay was 9 pounds — about $17. With two young children to feed, she showed up at 8:30 p.m. to tune her harp and was handed a piece of sheet music. Only later did she learn that the notes she played were to be the intro on “She’s Leaving Home” by the Beatles. The song was released months later on “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” which Rolling Stone magazine ranked in 2003 as No. 1 of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
Mrs. Bromberg’s harp intro and rhythm, backed by a full string section, set the poignant tone of the track before Paul McCartney (who recorded separately) began the lyric “Wednesday morning at 5 o’clock as the day begins.”
{snip}
Mrs. Bromberg, who became first female musician ever to record on a Beatles album, died Aug. 17 at a hospice center in Aylesbury, England. She was 92 and had a heart ailment, said her son, David Laurence, who spent years as an orchestral French horn player.
Although her three and a half minutes of playing on “She’s Leaving Home” brought her anonymously into millions of homes over the last five decades, Mrs. Bromberg was regarded by classical and session players as more than a one-hit wonder.
{snip}
(Courtesy of David Laurence/Mrs. Bromberg.)
Read more Washington Post obituaries
Sheila Bromberg, harpist on Beatles’ ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,’ dies at 92
Sheila Bromberg played on a number of pop albums and in symphony orchestras. (Courtesy of David Laurence)
By Phil Davison
September 10, 2021 at 8:02 p.m. EDT
Sheila Bromberg was a busy harpist in British symphony orchestras when an agent called on March 17, 1967, to offer her a three-hour stint that night as a session musician at the EMI recording studio on Abbey Road in London.
The pay was 9 pounds — about $17. With two young children to feed, she showed up at 8:30 p.m. to tune her harp and was handed a piece of sheet music. Only later did she learn that the notes she played were to be the intro on “She’s Leaving Home” by the Beatles. The song was released months later on “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” which Rolling Stone magazine ranked in 2003 as No. 1 of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
Mrs. Bromberg’s harp intro and rhythm, backed by a full string section, set the poignant tone of the track before Paul McCartney (who recorded separately) began the lyric “Wednesday morning at 5 o’clock as the day begins.”
{snip}
Mrs. Bromberg, who became first female musician ever to record on a Beatles album, died Aug. 17 at a hospice center in Aylesbury, England. She was 92 and had a heart ailment, said her son, David Laurence, who spent years as an orchestral French horn player.
Although her three and a half minutes of playing on “She’s Leaving Home” brought her anonymously into millions of homes over the last five decades, Mrs. Bromberg was regarded by classical and session players as more than a one-hit wonder.
{snip}
(Courtesy of David Laurence/Mrs. Bromberg.)
Read more Washington Post obituaries
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