My name is GEORGE W HUDSON & am a big fan of the late NORMAN BROOKS as well as his daughter, AaLia Kesari. I also have my own site at http://www.myspace.com/georgewhudson & run sites for Norman at YAHOO! Groups & Delphi Forums.
NORMAN BROOKS was born in Montréal on 1928 August 19 & passed away in the same city on 2006 September 14. It was Norman's sister, under the name of ANNIE BROOKS who first entered showbusiness as a singer in a local night club. He had been traveling around the country when he returned to Montréal & after seeing his sister perform got bitten by the bug. He performed at radio station C K V L [note: as a child, I also performed at that station on a programme called Call Me Uncle] where he sang Easter Parade, My Yiddish Momma & Yes Sir That's My Baby,, & began performing in clubs with his sister.
His similarity to the late AL JOLSON brought him almost instant fame as the first Jolie tribute artist. This was followed by a hit recording: Hello Sunshine. Norman & his sister headed south where they broke all records at the Sands Casino in Las Vegas. He & Annie can be seen performing there in the DEAN MARTIN film Ocean's Eleven.Earlier he had portrayed Jolie in a film for Twentieth Century Fox starring GORDON M ac RAE titled the Best Things in Life Are Free & later in the WOODY ALLEN film Selig. In between he made many Jolie tribute albums as well as a number of others & even worked with one of Jolie's orchestra conductors, AL GOODMAN.
Today, the Arie [Norman's real name was Arie] musical tradition is carried on by his daughter AaLia Kesari who also has a site here on MySpace as well as a fansite. Meanwhile Norman's music lives on in his recordings as well as in the memories of two later Jolie tribute artisits that he worked with, CLIVE BALDWIN & TONY BABINO.