Jonatha Brooke

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Jonatha Brooke
Background information
Birth name	Jonatha Brooke
Born	January 23, 1964 (age 43) Illinois, USA
Origin	USA
Genre(s)	Folk rock
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter
Instrument(s)	Vocals, Guitar
Years active	1980s - Present
Label(s)	Bad Dog Records
Associated acts	The Story (former)
Website	jonathabrooke.com

Jonatha Brooke is an American folk rock singer-songwriter and guitarist. She began her career in the 1980s as one half of the folk duo The Story and began her solo career in 1994. Her music merges elements of folk, rock and pop, often with poignant lyrics and complex harmonies.

Brooke formed The Story in the early 1980s along with a friend and classmate at Amherst College, Jennifer Kimball. Despite playing locally on a regular basis during their college career, the duo never issued any demos or albums during this period. They took a break for a period after graduation, during which time Brooke joined a dance troupe.

In 1989, the group created a demo called Over Oceans. The two friends were promptly signed to the independent Green Linnet label, which, in 1991, issued the duo's debut full-length album, Grace in Gravity. It wasn't long before the larger label Elektra Records expressed interest and reissued their debut. Their sophomore album, The Angel in the House, was released in 1993. Both albums featured dissonant vocal harmonies to an extent not found in most albums in the genre.

In 1994 Brooke parted ways with Kimball and pursued a solo career. She released her first solo album, Plumb (1995), which, despite Kimball no longer being part of the act, was credited to Jonatha Brooke & The Story. This was followed by 10 Cent Wings, which also marked a shift from her earlier folk-pop to more of a radio-friendly style. This shift continued onto her next release Steady Pull, a more rock-influenced album which was co-produced by Brooke and renowned studioman Bob Clearmountain (who has worked with Bryan Adams, The Rolling Stones, The Corrs, Hall & Oates, and other major artists).

Her most recent studio album, Back in the Circus, released in 2004, features new material along with covers of songs by Alan Parsons Project, The Beach Boys, and James Taylor. The album was also released in the UK in 2005, combining some of its tracks with some from Steady Pull. In August 2006 she released a combo CD and DVD titled Live in New York.

Her next studio album Careful What You Wish For will be released in April 2007 via Rykodisc distribution. Its first single, also titled Careful What You Wish For, has been released on iTunes.

Beginning in the late 1990s, Brooke's albums were issued via her very own record label, Bad Dog; while in 2002, Brooke also performed a pair of songs on Disney's Return to Never Land soundtrack, contributing an original composition ("I'll Try") and a cover ("The Second Star to the Right"). Brooke has featured as a guest vocalist with artists such as Lisa Loeb, Chris Botti and Patty Larkin as well as co-writing tracks for Joe Samples The Pecan Tree.