Brittany Brooks

Brittany Brooks
Background information
Birth name Brittany Ann Brooks
Born August 5, 1985
Oakland, California
Origin Los Angeles, California, United States (formerly Pittsburg, California)
Genres Swing, soul, rock, R&B, jazz, funk
Occupation(s) instrumentalist
Instruments drums
Years active 2007–present
Associated acts DDMC, Scarlet Fever
Website brittanyabrooks.com

Brittany Brooks (born August 5, 1985) is an American instrumentalist. She played drums with Scarlet Fever, the all-female backing band that toured with Cee Lo Green during 2010 and 2011. She and varying members of Scarlet Fever have performed with other front women as In 4D, No Salt, and Miss President.

She also toured around the world with Kelis during June 2012, performing in Bali, Jakarta, Singapore, Russia, and the Isle of Wight. She is a founding member of the group DDMC (DJ, Drummer, and MC) with DJ K-la Vie and Liberty Jayne.[1][2]

Biography

Brittany Brooks was born in Oakland, California, and raised in nearby Pittsburg, California.[1][3][4] She graduated from Pittsburg High School in 2004, where she had played snare drum with the marching band in parades at Walt Disney World and Universal Studios Florida.[3][4][5] After moving to Los Angeles in 2006, Brooks graduated in 2007 from the Musicians Institute located in Hollywood,[3][6] where she performed in television advertisements for the Institute on BET. She also attended and worked at California State University, Northridge.

Early years

Brooks began playing drums at the age of 12, following her older brother Chad who started playing the trombone two years earlier.[3] She has played with various cover bands such as BandShe,[5] and up and coming artists including Afrosparks,[7] Scotty G. and the Get Down, Raz B (formerly of B2K), CrazeDotCom, Haile Selassie, and Filipina rapper Liberty Jayne.[3]

Influences

She was originally instructed by her mentor, Angel Carrillo, at her church. She was further inspired by Sheila E to become a professional musician.[1][3]

Scarlet Fever

Beginning in June 2010, she toured with Cee Lo Green and the all-female backing band named Scarlet Fever on promotional tours for "What Part of Forever" (from the The Twilight Saga: Eclipse soundtrack) and The Lady Killer album. They performed for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,[8] BBC Radio,[9][10] Late Show with David Letterman,[11] Saturday Night Live,[12][13] and many other venues. Core band members include Sharon Aguilar (lead guitar, violin), DANiiVORY née Theresa Flaminio (keyboards, background vocals), and Regina Zernay Roberts (bass guitar, Moog synthesizer).

Members of the band continued to play together in various combinations (sometimes under other band names). Aguilar, Brooks, and DANiiVORY performed with front woman Sammy Allen at Whisky a Go Go in April 2012, where Cee Lo joined them on stage.[14]

Miss President

Aguilar, Brooks, and DANiiVORY have performed with Goldielox née Brittany Burton as In 4D,[1] and debuted as Miss President at Whisky a Go Go on February 10, 2013.[15][16][17] Their music encompasses "standard pop riffs, to neo-classical, and everything in-between."[15] The band name was chosen as "empowering" for women, "... we can create great music just as guys do. We can do everything they do, and even better."[18]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Ruano, Jenifer (July 2012). "Brittany Brooks Giving Us Fever". Tom Tom Magazine (10): 23–24. Archived from the original on August 7, 2012. Retrieved 2012-07-19.
  2. ↑ Gutierrez, Joanna (April 2012). "DDMC". Tom Tom Magazine (9). Retrieved 2012-05-02.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 "Brittany Brooks – Musician – Drummer". KBE Management. Retrieved 2011-07-14.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Artist – Brittany Brooks". Soultone Percussion. Retrieved 2011-03-03.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Brittany Ann Brooks". Retrieved 2012-07-14.
  6. ↑ "Sharon Aguilar, Brittany Brooks Land Gigs with Cee-Lo". June 15, 2010. Retrieved 2011-03-09.
  7. ↑ "Afrosparks". Retrieved 2012-07-14.
  8. ↑ "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno". NBC. June 14, 2010. Retrieved 2011-02-19.
  9. ↑ "Cee Lo Green Session". 1Xtra. BBC. October 26, 2010. Retrieved 2011-02-14.
  10. ↑ "Cee Lo in the Live Lounge". Live Lounge. BBC. November 3, 2010. Retrieved 2011-02-14.
  11. ↑ "Late Show with David Letterman". November 8, 2010. Retrieved 2011-02-14.
  12. ↑ "Gwyneth Paltrow hosts Saturday Night Live with musical guest Cee Lo Green!". Saturday Night Live. NBC. January 15, 2011. Retrieved 2011-02-14.
  13. ↑ David, Valerie (January 18, 2011). "Gwyneth Paltrow & Cee Lo Green Are Game for Anything on 'Saturday Night Live'". Retrieved 2011-02-14.
  14. ↑ "Scarlet Fever, Cee Lo Green's Ladykiller band live with guest Sammy Allen". April 23, 2012. Retrieved 2013-02-08.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Boyd, Steve (March 19, 2013). "Interview with Sharon Aguilar: Administrator of Guitar for Miss President". Guitar Girl Magazine. Retrieved 2013-04-21.
  16. ↑ "Miss President – About". February 10, 2013. Retrieved 2013-02-15.
  17. ↑ "Miss President Tour Dates". February 10, 2013. Retrieved 2013-02-15.
  18. ↑ Whitmore, Laura B. (April 15, 2013). "Guitar Girl'd: Interview with Sharon Aguilar on CeeLo, 2NE1 and Miss President". Guitar World. Retrieved 2013-04-15.

External links