I have been a fan of NORMAN BROOKS for over forty years & met his daughter, AaLia at his funeral in Montréal. I had spoken to her prevously on the telephone & after hearing her sing Crazy, I decided that PATSY CLINE needed lessons.
About AaLia:
Born into a family of musicians, singers, songwriters, composers, actors & comedians, AaLia has been influenced by gifted musicians in her family ever since she can remember. Her father, singer, composer & entertainer, NORMAN BROOKS, who was her greatest influence, introduced her to music as far back as her infant years. She recalls that the happiest tymes of her childhood were when he came home from touring & would gather the family around the piano. He taught her, & her sisters, the fundamental structures of melody & how to harmonize using his original songs. He also taught them to sing & write original music with great depth, passion & conviction. During the tymes her father returned to touring, she would get together with her sister, GERILEE DARBY & other friends to write & harmonize their own original material.
These intensely happy musical interludes sustained her youngest years through the difficult tymes she spent confined to a hospital bed. On one evening, AaLia, feeling very despondent, prayed for a guitar to help her through the boredom of confinement. The next morning, she woke up to find a guitar lying beside her. For ten year old AaLia, this was the magical moment that gave her the incentive & inspiration to begin writing & playing music on her own. Born with 28 broken bones from the womb, AaLia understands what it is to be broken. As she has spent the duration of her life building herself up with every set back she has had to endure. Intense physical and emotional pain motivated her to inspire inner strength & incentive in others. By learning how to cope with traumatic issues at such a young age, she developed an innate sense of tenacity & determination to conquer & overcome any obstacle that ever gets in her way.
AaLia describes her years on the streets of Montréal, Toronto, Vancouver, Seattle, Los Angelis, New York, & the countless places between, as inspired challenges. A challenge to survive & overcome a false image the world tried to project onto her, an image of appearing separate from the rest. She fought this limited mindset by protecting & nurturing her own self image of whom she knew she was, as fully human & unique within the inner core of her being. She would not play the victim forced into a rôle imposed by the constraints of society’s incapacitated ideals, projections or perceptions.
Finally, she settled in Hamilton, Ontario, where she met other musicians. She also collaborated & wrote original songs with best friend, LAURA GIRARD & soul sister CONSTANTINA STEHLIK. One musician in particular, RICHARD DEEJAS, took her on as his protegé & coached her to develop her own distinct melodic range. He achieved this by introducing her to a diverse range of earlier singers & songwriters, to mention a few such as, GEORGE GERSHWIN, COLE PORTER, STEPHEN SEINHEIM, ETTA JAMES, MAMA THORNTON, & ARETHA FRANKLIN. With the impetus of these influences & much more she has continued to sing at various venues in Toronto, Vancouver & Hamilton.
AaLia herself has been working & lending her inspired views as a vocal coach for many years. With formal training by her father & vocal instructors, ED JOHNSON & RAY LYELL, she was originally taught the Italian style of singing, Belcanto. She is also currently studying the amazing contemporary voice techniques of the renowned Vocal master, ROGER LOVE.
Her soulful & haunting renditions of the works of contemporary diva’s & underground artists have shown her lyrical ability as a true song stylist. Her own compositions exude such warmth, depth & familiarity that one can easily hear they come straight from the heart. AaLia continues to GiG live & make appearances with friends at music venues.
Presently, she is in the process of writing an autobiography, called Breaking Ground, a theme that withstands, amnesty, staying power, tenacity, courage & conquest. A story that she hopes to inspire in others to forgive & triumph over the challenges their own gift of life offers. Also, she is in the process of creäting original material to record her first disc called Late On Time at Grant Avenue, in Hamilton. She is currently in the process of looking for a guitarist to form a DUO & accompany her 0n keyboards, thus enabling her to creäte a Buzz out there doing live GiGs around Ontario, across Canada & the U.S. She hopes her up & coming performances will lead to playing Opening Acts for Musicians across the nation.
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