Brooke Gabrielle Fraser Ligertwood (born December 15, 1983 in Wellington, New Zealand) is a Tui Award winning New Zealand singer-songwriter, World Vision ambassador and one of the principal worship leaders of Christian worship band Hillsong United. Her debut album What to Do with Daylight was released in New Zealand in 2003 and has since been certified 7x platinum. Her second studio album, Albertine, was released in 2006 and has been certified 5x platinum and reached #3 on the U.S. Top Christian Albums chart. Her third studio album, Flags, was released in October 2010.
She studied piano from the age of seven, began writing songs at 12, played clarinet very averagely from 13, and at 15 got sick of writing slow piano ballads and playing "Baby Elephant Walk" in the school concert band, so taught herself the acoustic guitar. She still has quiet aspirations of being a drummer in a hardcore band or a forensic anthropologist, or a really great knitter, but these remain pipe dreams for now.
Brooke was coerced into playing in public during her first year in high school, when the dean of the senior year wanted an assembly ?item' and one of Brooke's so-called 'friends' dobbed her in. This led to a semi-humiliating but character building bi-weekly 'gig' at the senior assembly. Over the next few years as her songs stopped being about insects, her 'gigs' became music festivals, support shows and fundraisers for a charity that she remains committed to and passionate about today - World Vision.
In 2002, while Fraser was in Auckland, Scotty Pearson, the drummer for Elemeno P, organized a meeting with producer Matty J for her. Matty J became her manager, liaising with the major labels who had shown interest and compared their offers. Fraser had about five different labels offer her deals and chose to sign a multi-album deal with Sony Music Entertainment New Zealand.
After the success of her first album, Fraser moved to Sydney, where she has lived for four years. She commutes to the U.S. for touring. Fraser attends Hillsong Church; she is a worship leader and collaborator on the Hillsong United series of worship albums. She is a Christian, and much of her lyrical content indicates this, as well as her continued participation in Christian and church events. On March 17th 2008 she married musician Scott Ligertwood in Sydney.
From Wikipedia:Brooke Gabrielle Fraser (born 1983) is an award-winning New Zealand pop singer-songwriter. The daughter of Bernie Fraser, a former All Black, Fraser was musically active from a young age.