Background
Brooks was born in Amherstburg, Canada.
Brooks was born in Amherstburg, Canada.
His family moved to Detroit, Michigan, in 1901. Brooks sang, played piano, and performed on the vaudeville circuit (notably, as a Bert Williams imitator), as well as having a successful songwriting career. His first hit song was "Some of These Days", which he was able to get to headliner Sophie Tucker in 1909.
Tucker adopted it as her theme song, and performed it regularly for the next 55 years.
Brooks starred in several 1920s musical comedies. He also had a radio show on the Columbia Broadcasting System network in the 1930s.
In the 1940s he became a regular in Ken Murray"s "Blackouts", a long-running salute to burlesque that played in both New York and Los Angeles, California.