Astrid Brook profile picture

Astrid Brook

x Songstress x

About Me


Astrid performing 'Take These Old Memories' at a Music4Children event in Battersea Park, June 2007. Check out the Music4Children website to find out more about their great charity work.

Video by Down Under Productions:


ASTRID BROOK is an enchanting folk-pop singer songwriter based in London.

Born to a Malaysian mother and an English father, Astrid grew up in the beautiful countryside of Wiltshire, in a town just two miles away from Stonehenge. Her mother was a DJ whilst Astrid was growing up in the 1970’s, so she was exposed to UK pop music from a very early age and was inspired to write her first song at the age of 8. Throughout her teens, Astrid wrote songs, performed in bands and experimented in music recording, however, it was always a fun past-time and not something she ever took seriously.During a 10 year break from music, Astrid chose to broaden her horizons and she went to university, moved to London to work and also did some travelling. It wasn’t until 1999, however, that Astrid realised that music was her main passion in life, so she decided to get back in to it and develop her talents; namely singing, songwriting and guitar playing.

Since then, Astrid has developed her individual musical style, combining her strong, hypnotic voice with songs of heartbreak and beauty. She is a prolific songwriter and has performed numerous gigs around the UK, receiving enthusiastic reviews from her audiences.

Astrid also travels with her music. 2008 sees her playing in Sri Lanka for the second year running at an annual charity concert called 'Country Roads For Children'. This year she will be joined by singer and bassist, Amelie Chevalier. The event is organised by the Country Music Foundation (CMF) of Sri Lanka and has been successfully raising much needed funds for children's charities in the country for the last 16 years. With the generous support of sponsors such as First Choice Travel and the Mount Lavinia Hotel in Colombo, all the money raised at the concert goes directly to the children.Astrid's travels have also taken her to Nepal where she was invited by the Music4Children charity to play in Kathmandu to help raise awareness for underprivileged Nepalese children. Music4children continue to raise money to build orphanages in Nepal and Astrid is looking forward to supporting them by playing at their London Parks Tour again this year. Astrid has also performed in Vancouver, Canada and Nashville, USA.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 7/28/2005
Band Website: astridbrook.com
Band Members:

Astrid Brook - vocalist and acoustic guitarist


Influences: There is no one musician that I'd call my hero or heroine. Many artists have written songs that have resonated with me, here are just a few....

1970's

My mum was a DJ whilst I was growing up in the 70's, so I was drip-fed a diet of pop music and listened to the latest Top 40 vinyl including Bread, ABBA and Earth, Wind & Fire.

1980's

In the 80's I continued to listen to pop music, especially Madonna and Prince, but I also enjoyed soul, acid jazz and R&B.1990'sI still loved pop music and was inspired by Paul Weller, Sting, Tracy Chapman and The Pretenders. I also loved U2, Radiohead and Pearl Jam.

2000 and beyond

Since I have been playing live acoustic music, I've been introduced to some amazing folk legends, including James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, John Martyn and Jeff Buckley (basically anyone with a name beginning with J!). I am also partial to a bit of Fleetwood Mac.
On a final note, one of my favourite singers is a beautiful lady called Lucinda Drayton who has a band called Bliss ~ their music really is gorgeous!

Sounds Like: Stridbird
Record Label: Striddy Records
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

2008 Musical Shenanigans

Oooh crikey I haven’t written a blog in ages!  I am still alive honest! I have had a good year so far, but heh wouldn’t it be nice if it just warmed up a little.  My winter ...
Posted by Astrid Brook on Tue, 08 Apr 2008 04:10:00 PST

Striddy's Blog 1.4 - One Week, Three Crazy Gigs

Well I was a busy bunny last week and was fortunate enough to experience some fabulous and diverse live music. In the last week, I have been to see three quite different but equally exc...
Posted by Astrid Brook on Mon, 11 Jun 2007 04:35:00 PST

Striddy's Blog 1.3 - Ayubowan!

Happy Sunday!  I am sitting here typing away in my living room looking out at beautiful Clissold Park here in Stokey.  It is a bright day and the park is buzzing with activity...
Posted by Astrid Brook on Sun, 01 Apr 2007 10:13:00 PST