Ted Brooks, the performer, is the son of a NYC show-business veteran father, Orville Brooks (a Tenor with: The Inkspots, The Larks, The Golden Gate Quartet) and his mother, Josephine, a Southern beauty from South Carolina. Ted was relocated as a boy with the family to Mom’s hometown of Columbia, SC in 1962.
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Guitar lessons and his formative years spent in their Southern home let the teen explore the origins of true American music. Playing supportive instruments, bass; drums; harmonica; Ted often subbed in bands and duos across the Capital City area. Most notably, “The Blues Doctor”, Drink Small supported Ted in his development as a musician. This development took Ted and Mr. Small (a 2015 NEA Fellow) to a lot of smaller towns; frat parties; BBQs and private occasions across South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia.
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A 1971 return to NYC, brought acting school at The Stella Adler Studio at The City Center of NYC, home of the famed Joffrey Ballet into Ted’s life. Acting some, having to moonlight in the restaurant business as a bartender, a waiter and a cook for many years, while using his musical roots to perform as a solo and as a band leader.
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An invitation to play a comedy recital at Carnegie Hall was realized in 1997. An audience of 500+ enjoyed Ted Brooks Band’s routine and original song: Bootyology. David Crosby (& his son) approached Ted to personally compliment him after the show.
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Ted was inspired, at this point, to sharpen his skills as a front man with vocals and guitar. He has performed to audiences all along the Eastern Seaboard. A run of public and private concerts from The Upstate NY Catskills to the South Carolina coast, Ted has come full circle to the roots planted as a teen.
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