Rock and Pop: Interview with one-time Carnaby Street busker Brooke Sharkey
Published: 29 July 2010
by ROISIN GADELRAB
BROOKE Sharkey’s life is one big tour. As a child she would travel the country with her father in his orange Mini, and join him as he busked.
At 16, he gave her a guitar and she’s been writing songs ever since.
The bilingual folk singer – she’s fluent in French, a feature of many of her songs – was discovered busking in Carnaby Street, when her unique voice invaded the studio of music producer Mike Connaris through an open window.
Speaking between sets at the weekend’s Secret Garden Party in Cambridgeshire, she said: “Mike heard me singing and was really excited. He came running down the stairs. Many people think they can work magic and do favours but Mike’s really honest. He’s been fantastic. I’m doing what I’ve always done but he made me see the bigger picture.”
She describes new EP A Taste of Truth, launched earlier this month, as having an “intimate, chilled vibe”, adding: “It’s about life and feelings. I’m quite a sociable person but there’s probably things I don’t express so much as a person. Some things that are harder to say and easier to sing, and that’s what my music’s about. Some things you can’t say out loud.”
As a child Brooke used to sing with her dad at weekends.
She said: “My dad had lots of friends in Camden. I sang with him but it wasn’t really serious, more like a social thing. I remember the beautiful colours, the punks, the barges, it was a very atmospheric place. Because we have family dotted around, we had an orange Mini called ‘Emma’ and we did lots of road trips.”
She moved to France when she was nine, returning to England at 16.
“We moved around quite a lot,” said Brooke. “My mum wanted a change of life and she saw the benefits of us knowing a second language. She put us in a French school.
“At the time we really wanted stability but I look back and think it was a really good thing. We got to see so much more.”
She still writes some lyrics in French but says this is less likely the longer she stays away from France.
“My lyrics are a bit more obscure normally,” said Brooke. “French is nicer to the ear. It makes it more interesting to me. I always write about real things, quite intimate.
“Each song has a different influence. It’s folk with blues, reggae and jazz.”
She started learning guitar in sixth form in Norfolk, busking in Diss at lunchtimes.
“That would make me a bit of pocket money,” said Brooke. “The school didn’t know. I finished sixth form and realised that was where I wanted to be heading.”
She has since played across Europe, as well as India and Central America.
“I learned everything,” said Brooke.
“I was really shy. Central America was a really different way of busking. I was walking into bars with no amplification doing five or six songs then passing a hat around. That was really hard but amazing. The response you get is really honest because you’re not put on a pedestal.”