Jonatha Brooke

Brooke, a former professional dancer, was one-half of Boston-based musical duo The Story in the early ‘90s. Record exec Tommy LiPuma signed The Story to Elektra, which released two of the duo’s albums, but as the label reorganized, The Story came to its conclusion. LiPuma, being a strong supporter of Brooke’s talent, signed her to his new home under the MCA umbrella.

As Brooke released the solo album she was most proud of, 10¢ Wings, LiPuma’s imprint fell apart, leaving the artist in limbo and looking for another home in the MCA group of labels. But nothing worked out quite right and MCA let her go.

“I was just so in love with [the record] and so ready to do whatever anyone asked of me to work for it. So to be kind of dropped in the middle of a national tour was just kind of bad business,” Brooke told POLLSTAR from her home in Southern California.

It was time to make a decision about her career: curl up and go away or get back on the horse. “It was really devastating and there was definitely a two-week moping-on-the-couch hiatus,” she said. But there were still tour dates booked to support 10¢ Wings. “So I decided, ‘OK, I’m gonna do something positive with this.'”

Brooke’s manager, Patrick Rains, had a lot of influence in convincing her to go independent. “I don’t think I could have done it without him saying, ‘Look, this is really great and this will keep the momentum going; it’ll keep you from tearing your hair out because we all know 10¢ Wings was really beautiful and was wasted, and let’s just keep moving….’ [MCA] wouldn’t even give us back the record so that we could sell it ourselves, so he really kept me moving through a rough stretch.”

While being her own boss is a little scary, she said, “It’s so satisfying at the end of the day when it’s like, ‘Wow, we kicked MCA’s ass and we had nothing.’ We had my life’s savings and an ‘89 Mazda, and we shipped more than MCA did of this little record that could.”

Her Bad Dog Records release has garnered Brooke rave reviews and better-than-expected sales. Initially, the intention was to release Jonatha Brooke Live solely through her Web site,jonathabrooke.com.

That site gives fans insight into Brooke as a person. The voice is not that of a publicist; it’s hers, written by her own hand. “At first, it scared me, like do I really want to be this casual and accessible?” she said. “But it’s the way I am anyway, so why pretend that I’m a snotty, distant diva, you know.”

The record sold so well on the Web site that Brooke made a distribution deal with KOCH International to go to retail.

While the Internet served its purpose as a great introduction tool for Brooke, she doesn’t think it can replace retail. “Maybe it’s generational,” she said. “People above 30 or maybe even a little older still act like me. I want to go to a record store and I want to buy it. I want the booklet; I want to see it or I want to hear it.

“If you’re a new artist, I don’t know that the Internet’s gonna be a real exciting sales opportunity. I think no matter what, if you want to be around for a while, if you really want to have a career, you have to tour your ass off. There’s just no two ways about it.”

As for more commercial means of exposure, Brooke has gotten some radio play and it certainly hasn’t hurt, but it’s not something she relies on. “Triple A radio has been my home and my sort of bastion of support so I can’t belittle their role in developing my career,” she said. “But I don’t know how many of my fans actually even listen to the radio because it’s so hard to find intelligent radio. Barring a huge crossover hit, I’m not sure how much radio is really helping me at this point. I think touring is what really helps me.”

Though radio exposure could bring a whole new level of success to Brooke’s career, she has a very grounded view of what that means.

“It’s funny, the older and more experienced I get, I wonder more and more about that, like, wait a minute, I’m successful now. What else could I want? I make a really decent living, I live a perfectly lovely lifestyle, I do what I love and it totally fuels me spiritually. So what is success? Is it being on MTV and having designers throwing see-through gowns at me and showing up at every sexy party? That’s just not part of my definition,” she said.

“Of course, I would love to sell a good trillion records and have my sense of what substantial music is actually appeal to the masses of teen-age girls. I think that would be just so fulfilling to feel like something more important got through. Not that I’m touting myself as some brilliant poet, but I happen to think that the caliber of the marketplace is just crazy right now.”

Brooke is taking her music, which, by the way, has been called brilliant by many a critic, to festivals, theatres and clubs this summer.