Effective period / Period of releases: 1965

Rosa Lee Brooks (? - December 28th 2021) Singer who at a very young age came into contact with Etta James and later was mentored by Johnny Guitar Watson. Her parents entrusted her to Watson and took her to her gigs when she was just a teenager. She went to John Muir Junior High which was the same school as some of The Chambers Brothers attended.

In 1965, the single My Diary / Utee was released on Revis Records 1013. The A side was credited to Arthur Lee. It featured Jimi Hendrix on lead guitar. She and Hendrix were in a relationship at the time. In Kevin Grace's Rosa Lee Brooks: Golden Rose documentary, she disputes Arthur Lee's involvement and said that his involvement was singing background and handling the backing vocal arrangements. She stated that the song was born from both her and Hendrix. In 1966, They're Coming To Take Me Away / I'm Moanin' was released on Soul City 750 (see Soul City label). She was credited as Rose Brooks and the single was produced by Willie Hutch and Marc Gordon (see Marc Gordon).

Later years

In later years, she became friends with Willie Chambers though Louis Metoyer a Myspace friend. Later through a drummer friend of hers called Aromas (spelling?), she met Joseph Chambers who she sang on stage with.

She contributed four songs to the Love Somebody album by . The self-released album which was produced by Chris Stewart (see Chris Stewart) was released in 2000.

"My Diary" and "Utee" appear on the West Coast Seattle Boy: The Jimi Hendrix Anthology compilation that was released in 2010. She has been the subject of a documentary, Rosa Lee Brooks: Golden Rose by Kevin Grace (released circa 2020). Both Brooks and Gregg Wright appear in a November 20, 2020 Muses podcast, Episode 142: Rosa Lee Brooks and Gregg Wright.

References

The Chambers Brothers, Rosa Lee Brooks: Golden Rose by Kevin Grace - 53:00 - Section: Other musicians who went to the same school


Death
Her granddaughter posted on Facebook around December 30th, 2021 that Rosa had passed away on the 28th of that month.