Post by erik on Dec 16, 2023 23:44:09 GMT -5
Brooke White, who finished fifth in the 2008 season of American Idol, is in this week's Pop Music Hits Spotlight.
HOLD UP MY HEART (Brooke White; June Baby; 2009)—During its existence, first on Fox and then on ABC, American Idol, like a lot of voice competition shows, has, on the one hand, produced numerous vocalists of note, and on the other has inspired one too many singers to hold notes for seemingly hours on end (although Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston each perpetrated this trend to start with). In terms of female artists, Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood are Idol’s best-known winners (Clarkson winning in 2002, and Underwood in 2005). One other who never made it as far as those two, and who was arguably just as valid, is folk/pop singer/songwriter Brooke White. Born in Phoenix, Arizona on June 2, 1983, Brooke managed to make it into the Top 5 during Idol’s 2008 season, but was eventually eliminated. But unlike a lot of Idol contestants who tended to disappear from public view if they didn’t finish higher than fifth, Brooke had impressed Idol judge Randy Jackson enough that he had agreed to help her with her first official album, High Hopes And Heartbreak, produced for her own June Baby record label with the help of Jackson, and Dave Cobb. Showing the influences of a lot of the 1970’s California folk/pop/rock community, including those of Carole King, Carly Simon, Linda Ronstadt, and James Taylor, the album was a big seller in the emerging digital format in 2009. It also yielded her biggest actual chart hit to date, “Hold Up My Heart”, very much of a piece of the sound she had developed through the process of Idol. Though its chart stay was only seven weeks, peaking at #47 in April 2009, it did show that Brooke would have considerable influence beyond Idol. In 2011, she teamed with songwriter Jack Matranga as Jack and White, releasing two EP’s together (2011’s Gemini; 2012’s Winter). On her own in 2012, Brooke released Brooke White Christmas, which, besides including holiday favorites like “Wonderful Christmastime” and “Blue Christmas”, included her own original Christmas song “California Christmas”. In 2014, she released a children’s album, Never Grow Up: Lullabies And Happy Songs. Brooke’s most recent album release, 2019’s Calico, is an homage to the country music of Southern California.
HOLD UP MY HEART (Brooke White; June Baby; 2009)—During its existence, first on Fox and then on ABC, American Idol, like a lot of voice competition shows, has, on the one hand, produced numerous vocalists of note, and on the other has inspired one too many singers to hold notes for seemingly hours on end (although Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston each perpetrated this trend to start with). In terms of female artists, Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood are Idol’s best-known winners (Clarkson winning in 2002, and Underwood in 2005). One other who never made it as far as those two, and who was arguably just as valid, is folk/pop singer/songwriter Brooke White. Born in Phoenix, Arizona on June 2, 1983, Brooke managed to make it into the Top 5 during Idol’s 2008 season, but was eventually eliminated. But unlike a lot of Idol contestants who tended to disappear from public view if they didn’t finish higher than fifth, Brooke had impressed Idol judge Randy Jackson enough that he had agreed to help her with her first official album, High Hopes And Heartbreak, produced for her own June Baby record label with the help of Jackson, and Dave Cobb. Showing the influences of a lot of the 1970’s California folk/pop/rock community, including those of Carole King, Carly Simon, Linda Ronstadt, and James Taylor, the album was a big seller in the emerging digital format in 2009. It also yielded her biggest actual chart hit to date, “Hold Up My Heart”, very much of a piece of the sound she had developed through the process of Idol. Though its chart stay was only seven weeks, peaking at #47 in April 2009, it did show that Brooke would have considerable influence beyond Idol. In 2011, she teamed with songwriter Jack Matranga as Jack and White, releasing two EP’s together (2011’s Gemini; 2012’s Winter). On her own in 2012, Brooke released Brooke White Christmas, which, besides including holiday favorites like “Wonderful Christmastime” and “Blue Christmas”, included her own original Christmas song “California Christmas”. In 2014, she released a children’s album, Never Grow Up: Lullabies And Happy Songs. Brooke’s most recent album release, 2019’s Calico, is an homage to the country music of Southern California.