Joyce Rudolph
Singer-songwriter Brooke Ramel is doing what she loves to do --
entertain people with her songs. And while money isn't her motivator,
having the ability to make a living at it makes the experience that
much sweeter.
When she's in front of a crowd, the Glendale resident has a
versatile repertoire to pull from, including songs by Simon and
Garfunkel, Sarah McLachlan and Willy Nelson. The influences for her
own songs have been the songwriters of the 1970s, Carole King, Carly
Simon and Stevie Nicks.
"I sing the gamut from rock, folk and country to pop," she said.
Ramel blends well-known songs with her own music in her shows.
"I like my music to be uplifting, but I get uplifted more than
anyone," she said.
Her major inspiration, comes from connecting with her audience.
"I like to make people feel understood and hopeful," she said. "I
also sing sad songs, and often people say 'That's exactly what I'm
going through.' I think it makes people feel they can understand
themselves better."
Ramel has lived in the Glendale area on and off for 10 years. She
grew up in Kansas City and Minneapolis and came to California to
attend Stanford University. Her major was international relations,
and she studied in Paris and learned French, so she incorporates that
language in several of her songs.
"I never wanted to do anything but be a singer-songwriter," she
said. "I enjoyed studying, but my passion is music. My family always
encouraged me to get an education, so that's what I did."
After graduating, she moved to Los Angeles and landed her first
singing job at the Holiday Inn in Anaheim, near Disneyland.
Hoping to attract a major recording label, she started traveling
to Nashville. She met Johnny Pierce, they started writing music
together, and he served as her producer on several albums. He
arranged the music; she financed four CDS from 1995 to 2001.
"I have sold over 35,000 of those four CDs, and I'm still selling
them," she said.
One of her big supporters is Brian Panella, who works as a
personal manager for music, TV and film stars at Kramer/Panella
Entertainment in Marina del Rey.
"Brooke has sold close to 40,000 albums on her own, which is a lot
of albums, considering she has no major record-distribution label at
this time," he said. "It tells you that the people who see her, love
her work because they are obviously buying her product."
Panella, who worked at Capital Records from 1963 to 1971 as head
of artist relations and as regional promotion manager in the New York
