Biography

BROOKE WILKES was born one day before Halloween on a stormy night in Anchorage Alaska. Her Mother recalls that a window blew in at the hospital, thus announcing Brooke’s arrival into the world. It seemed only fitting that Brooke was born right about show time. Somewhere around 8pm her curtain went up for the first time.

Growing up a 3rd Generation Danish Alaskan, Brooke found many northern opportunities to develop her growing talent. At age 11, Brooke starred in her first stage musical earning nightly standing ovations and rave reviews. This led to a Miss Teene Talent Alaska win, her first studio collaborations, radio airplay, newspaper interviews and night club performances. Brooke went on to open for various visiting celebrities all before the age of 13.

But Brooke wanted more.

Once in Southern California Brooke began high school and put her very first bands together, booking herself into various LA night clubs, sometimes needing to be sneaked in the back door being only 14 years old. Performing and writing original material in her high school band called “Local Colour” led to various appearances showcasing their signature sound Brooke now fondly refers to as heavy metal bubble gum.

At age 15 Brooke began cultivating her inner actress over a decades journey, portraying leading roles in productions ranging from The Wiz to Evita. The theatre boards intoxicated her and helped craft characters that would eventually manifest themselves again through each of her performances. Brooke landed screen time on Star Search while lending her vocals to various TV shows and feature films. When the Wilkes family chose to head back to Alaska, the young dreamer stayed put and finished her senior year of high school renting her first apartment.

Brooke just wasn’t done yet.

Brooke continued singing in rock bands while learning amazing performance skills by portraying lead musical theatre roles. She spent the next several years performing in touring industrials and various theme park stage shows. She credits her vocal chops through touring with cover bands, lending her voice everywhere from Nevada to Florida and back to California, singing up to 40 songs an evening, 7 nights a week. She even began filling requests to sing Our National Anthem at sold out arena's for the LA Lakers, the Anaheim Ducks, the Anaheim Angels and the LA Kings.

During these "paying her dues" years, she opened for and worked with celebrities including the Beach Boys, Ben E. King, Jewel, the Pointer Sisters, Richard Carpenter, Greg Walker, Matthew Lillard, Wayne Brady, Vanessa L. Williams, Kristine W. and Doc Severinson.

During her travels Brooke encountered various too good to be true wheelers and dealers who claimed to be connected and proud to posess their very own casting couches.

“I knew I’d rather die trying for this dream on my own terms than sacrifice my goals, morals and ethics, "says Brooke. "It was never an option for me to sell my soul.”

Those eye opening moments inspired Brooke to take her livelihood into her own hands. She started her own entertainment booking company and began employing herself and dozens of other performers yearly, playing everywhere from Caesars Palace to Disneyland while being hired to entertain numerous corporate parties and high profile receptions. This newfound leadership gave Brooke valuable knowledge about the business side of music while instilling a newfound respect and understanding for the job of agents, managers and publicists everywhere.

Brooke had now come full circle, from young new artist to self taught leader, to band leader/talent manager/producer and now back again to a creative yet much wiser original artist. With that knowledge gained, it was time for Brooke to focus on her own singing career once more.

Brooke dusted off her songwriting notebook, put a band together and began working the LA club circuit once more. Her first CD attempt, “Never Too Late” was a romantic ethereal lullaby dedicated to lovers everywhere which was named one of the Top 10 Albums of the Year by Music Connection Magazine.

But Brooke had more to say... and do...and be.

Brooke began living her life to the absolute fullest, taking chances and trying on new experiences and ideas that used to seem scary or foreign to her and for the next year Brooke embarked on an unexpected journey that would later be referred to as her "Fruitcake Year."

In the words of successful actor and old friend Matthew Lillard,
"Brooke’s recent CD, 'The Vanilla Life,' is anything but!"

This very literal and lyrically daring album recently won Record of the Year at the Los Angeles Music Awards. The Vanilla Life also received the Founders Award for Brooke’s creative tongue in cheek art concept:
A wholesome 1950s Sandra Dee unabashedly celebrating her very own non-vanilla lifestyle.

The Vanilla Life CD seemed to write itself during this life changing year and the journey has not ended yet. This award winning album's content is inspiring a future theatrical show while the haunting rock ballad, “Oblivion,” is inspiring Brooke's very first book. And the "Vanilla Life" inspired lessons learned during her Fruitcake Year are already fueling material for her next album appropriately entitled, "The Mermaid Diaries."

“My music mirrors the life I have lived. Hearing my songs is like taking a time machine into my experiences. I want my listeners to know I am right there with them, healing, learning , loving, growing and evolving. I have something to say. I am about entertaining you while getting you to think, love and understand one another. Being brave enough to love oneself first and foremost is not always easy but the lessons are right there in front of us. We are all the same and we can inspire one another to be better, to be absolutley anything we want to be. It’s about really living life and exploring each day passionately and courageously!", Brooke says.

Brooke wants her fans to walk away having gotten something meaningful that they can take into their everyday lives.
As one of Brooke's fans recently said,
“Brooke is my favorite super hero. She is part light, part dark. One half mothering angel, the other half naughty devil."

And Brooke's not done yet.