Brooke Elizabeth White (born June 2, 1983) is an American indie pop/folk-pop singer-songwriter from Mesa, Arizona who was the fifth place finalist on the seventh season of American Idol. In 2005, White released her first studio album called Songs from the Attic. White's first post-Idol album High Hopes & Heartbreak was released on July 21, 2009. The first single "Hold Up My Heart" was released on February 25, 2009 and the song debuted at #47 on the Billboard Hot 100. The second single "Radio Radio" was released on June 23, 2009.

Biography

Early life

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

Personal life

White started singing at 16 when she tried out for the high school musical, Meet Me in St. Louis, and earned the lead role. White graduated high school from Heritage Academy in 2001. She at one time attended beauty school, describing herself as a "beauty school dropout," and shared on Idol that she started doing hair when she was eleven years old. She spent four years in Los Angeles, CA honing her craft as an aspiring singer-songwriter prior to auditioning for American Idol and also spent a year as a nanny for twin baby girls. 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. White is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

American Idol
 

White auditioned for American Idol in Philadelphia, where she sang "Like a Star" and received positive reviews 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 when he appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show on March 17, 2008. 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 to good reviews as well. During the Lennon/McCartney week, she performed "Let It Be", a classic song by The Beatles. 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. Andrew Lloyd Webber was impressed the most by White and predicted a big night for her,[8] 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 while Carly Smithson went home. When White performed "I'm a Believer" and "I Am...I Said" during Neil Diamond week, she changed the lyrics, 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 three times, once on April 2 after her Dolly Parton song "Jolene", again on April 16 after her Mariah Carey performance of "Hero", and she was eliminated on April 30, 2008 after her performances of The Monkees' "I'm a Believer" and Neil Diamond's "I Am...I Said".