Brooke White

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Brooke White
Brooke White at the American Idol, Season 7, Top 12, after party on March 6, 2008.
Brooke White at the American Idol, Season 7, Top 12, after party on March 6, 2008.
Background information
Born June 2, 1983 (1983-06-02) (age 25)[1]
Phoenix, Arizona
Origin Mesa, Arizona, United States
Genre(s) Folk, Pop
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter
Instrument(s) Guitar, Piano
Years active 2005 - present
Label(s) New Millenium Records Group

Brooke Elizabeth White (born June 2, 1983) is an American singer-songwriter and was the fifth place finalist on the seventh season of American Idol.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Brooke Elizabeth White was born in Phoenix, Arizona, and raised in nearby Mesa with three younger siblings (Tyler, Katie and Quinn) and her parents, Brad and Kaylene. She also has family members in Nova Scotia, Canada.[2]

White started singing at age 15 when she tried out for the high school musical, Meet Me in St. Louis, and received the lead role.[2] White graduated high school from Heritage Academy in 2001. She at one time attended beauty school, describing herself as a "beauty school dropout",[2] and stated on Idol that she started doing hair when she was eleven years old. She worked as a nanny and an aspiring singer-songwriter prior to auditioning for American Idol. During her elimination video on American Idol, White stated "It's probably not a secret that I struggled with my own confidence, but I'm stronger than I thought I was and that's a great thing to get out of this."

White currently resides in Van Nuys, California with her husband, David Ray, an accountant.[3] White is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

[edit] Music Career Before Idol

White, a singer-songwriter who also plays the piano and guitar, started singing at age 15 when she tried out for the high school musical, Meet Me in St. Louis, and received the lead role.[2] White has performed as a solo artist with a backup band for the last four years. White's first CD, Songs from the Attic, was released by the independent label New Millennium Records Group in 2006,[4] and was produced and co-written by Tim Simms.[5] The album is now available for download on White's website and on iTunes. On iTunes, the album has peaked at #19 on the Top 100 Albums Chart, #6 on the Top 100 Pop Albums Chart and #8 on the Top 10 Album chart in Canada[6]. In Canada iTunes, the album has peaked at #8 on the pop charts. The album has garnered positive reviews on iTunes and on Amazon.com

White's first music video, "Free", was directed by Braden Barty[7] and produced by Tim Simms. In the video, she acts out her story as a beauty school dropout who moves to Hollywood to pursue a singing career.

[edit] American Idol

[edit] Overview

White tried out for American Idol in Philadelphia. She sang "Like a Star" and she received a positive review from all the judges. During her audition, she admitted to never having seen an R-rated movie, prompting Cowell to state that he could "bring her over to the dark side". During the Hollywood week, White performed "Beautiful" by Carole King, accompanying herself on piano. After that performance, judges were quick to point out that Brooke reminded them of a young Carly Simon or Carole King.

Since top 24, White has accompanied herself on guitar for her performances of "You're So Vain", "Jolene" and "I'm a Believer", and on piano for "Let It Be", "Every Breath You Take", "Hero" and "I Am...I Said". Judge Simon Cowell chose White early as one of his four favorites in the competition, along with David Archuleta, Jason Castro and David Cook, when he appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, which aired on March 17, 2008.[8]

During the 1970s week, while White was performing "You're So Vain" by Carly Simon, she stared at Simon Cowell. It caught the judges' attention and received good reviews from them. White performed an acoustic version of "Love Is a Battlefield" by Pat Benatar in the next week; it also received good reviews. During the Lennon/McCartney week, she performed "Let It Be", a classic song by The Beatles. It was the most successful performance by her. Randy Jackson said it was a very heartfelt performance and Simon Cowell said it was one of the best of the night, believable and he thought Brooke picked good song choices in the past three weeks. It soon brought her tears of joy.

Andrew Lloyd Webber was impressed the most by White and predicted a big night for her,[9] but three lines into her performance of "You Must Love Me", White apologized, stopped the band, and re-started the song from the beginning. She later explained, "I lost the lyric". Simon Cowell stated that he would have done the same thing, had he been in her situation. It was the first time in the show's history that a contestant re-started a performance after a song had started (She previously started "Every Breath You Take" on an odd note, so she started over right at the beginning). Despite this, she was the third contestant on the April 23, 2008 results show to be named safe.

When White performed "I'm a Believer" and "I Am...I Said" during Neil Diamond week, she changed the lyric, as suggested by Neil Diamond, in the latter song from "I'm New York City born and raised" to "I'm Arizona born and raised" to make the song her own.

White was in the bottom three twice, once on April 2nd after her Dolly Parton song "Jolene" and again on April 16th after her Mariah Carey performance of "Hero". She was eliminated from American Idol on April 30, 2008.

[edit] Performances and results (during voting weeks)

Week # Theme Song choice Original artist Order # Result
Top 24 (12 Women) 1960s "Happy Together" The Turtles 6 Safe
Top 20 (10 Women) 1970s "You're So Vain" Carly Simon 3 Safe
Top 16 (8 Women) 1980s "Love Is a Battlefield" Pat Benatar 7 Safe
Top 12 Lennon/McCartney "Let It Be" The Beatles 7 Safe
Top 11 The Beatles "Here Comes the Sun" The Beatles 5 Safe
Top 10 Year They Were Born "Every Breath You Take" The Police 5 Safe
Top 9 Dolly Parton "Jolene" Dolly Parton 1 Bottom 31
Top 8 Inspirational Music "You've Got a Friend" Carole King 8 Safe
Top 7 Mariah Carey "Hero" Mariah Carey 4 Bottom 22
Top 6 Andrew Lloyd Webber "You Must Love Me" Evita 3 Safe
Top 5 Neil Diamond "I'm a Believer"
"I Am...I Said"		 The Monkees
Neil Diamond		 3
8		 Eliminated


  • Note 1: White was saved first from elimination.
  • Note 2: When Ryan Seacrest announced the results for this particular night, White was among the Bottom 3 but declared safe second, as the remaining contestant was eliminated.

[edit] Post Idol

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, White stated she will continue focusing on recording and that she received a call from Carly Simon. When asked about returning as a nanny of the twins, White said that the family joked that they would give her a raise if she went back, and she said that she didn't mind babysitting every once in a while. [10]

Since her elimination, White has made appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on May 1, 2008[11], Live with Regis and Kelly and The Ellen Degeneres Show on May 5, 2008[12][13], The Morning Show with Mike & Juliet on 6 May 2008[14], Good Day L.A. and Access Hollywood[15]. She also filmed an appearance on MTV's Total Request Live on May 6, 2008.[16]

While on The Ellen Degeneres Show, Ellen Degeneres cut White's husband David's hair, since he had vowed not to cut it until Brooke was eliminated from Idol.[17][13] She performed "You're So Vain" on both The Ellen Degeneres Show, Live with Regis and Kelly, The Morning Show with Mike & Juliet and Access Hollywood.

White shot a video for the VH1 TV show Best Week Ever, called "Brooke White Starts And Stops The Classics". In the video, White mocks herself and starts and stops while singing some classic songs.

White returned to the Idol stage for the season finale, and performed along with the other Top 12 contestants. She also sang "Teach Your Children" with Graham Nash.

White will be part of the American Idols LIVE! Tour 2008 from July 1, 2008 to September 13, 2008.

[edit] Musical influences

White cites her musical influences as the "soulful sounds of the 70's" such as James Taylor, Carole King, Fleetwood Mac, the Carpenters, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, the Eagles, America, Carly Simon, the Bee Gees, Hall & Oates, Joni Mitchell, Bonnie Raitt, and Phil Collins.

When asked on American Idol with whom she would like to do a duet if made possible, she named John Mayer. She also cites Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood as her favorite former American Idol winners.[18]

Carly Simon, one of the singers who inspired White, said her favorite contestant on Idol was Brooke. She was impressed when White chose her song "You're So Vain", and said that she thought, "Oh my God, this girl is so talented and she sings the song so much better than I ever did or ever could."[19]

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

[edit] Other releases

iTunes Exclusive "American Idol Live Performances"

  1. "Happy Together"
  2. "You're So Vain"
  3. "Love is a Battlefield"

iTunes Exclusive "American Idol Studio Performances"1

  1. "Let It Be" - 3:30
  2. "Here Comes the Sun" - 2:51
  3. "Every Breath You Take" - 3:54
  4. "Jolene" - 2:39
  5. "You've Got a Friend" - 5:08
  6. "Hero" - 3:54
  7. "You Must Love Me" - 2:40
  8. "I Am... I Said" - 3:31

[edit] References

  1. ^ Yahoo! TV Brooke White Biography
  2. ^ a b c d 'Idol' finalist White a beauty school dropout. CNN (2008-03-19).
  3. ^ 'American Idol' eliminates Brooke White, determines Top 4 finalists. Reality TV world (2008-05-01).
  4. ^ a b Brooke White's first CD Songs From the Attic.
  5. ^ ‘American Idol’: Brooke White’s debut album returns to the Internet (May 1, 2008).
  6. ^ Chart on Canadian iTunes[1]
  7. ^ Several Brooke White videos from WireWerks
  8. ^ Video clip of Simon Cowell with Oprah
  9. ^ American Idol Tracker: Andrew Lloyd Webber forsees big night for Brooke White
  10. ^ 'American Idol' Exit Q&A: Brooke White. Entertainment Weekly (2008-05-01).
  11. ^ Video of Brooke White on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno[2]
  12. ^ Video of Brooke White Live with Regis and Kelly [3]
  13. ^ a b Idols on Ellen -- Brooke White Exits Gracefully The Ellen Degeneres Show. 2008-05-05. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  14. ^ Video of Brooke White on The Morning Show with Mike & Juliet[4]
  15. ^ Brooke White performs on the Access Hollywood stage Booted 'Idol' Brooke White Performs On The Access Stage
  16. ^ American Idol - Yahoo! News Photos [5]
  17. ^ Brooke White: Surviving Idol. TV GUIDE (2008-05-01).
  18. ^ Brooke White Top 24 Season 7 American Idol page
  19. ^ Carly Simon: Nobody does it better than Brooke on 'Idol'. Associated Press (2008-04-29).

[edit] External links

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