Local Musician heads to Canada’s got talent

By Amanda Monahan

From Canada Day performances in Wellington to Toronto for Canada’s Got Talent.

Fifteen-year-old PCI student Brooke Bruce is taking a big step in making a name for herself. She’s packing her guitar and taking a trip down to Toronto to audition for Canada’s Got Talent.

The soft-spoken musician just realized her talent and potential just a few years ago.

“I used to be horrible but my parents never really told me to stop, and about three or four years ago I just started to get good,” she said.

‘Those days when my mom would look at me and pay attention to me and nothing else and I would sometimes make her cry and I know that I’m doing pretty good. Bruce said.

Her mom-manager, Kerry Bruce-Slade agrees.

“We didn’t cringe anymore while she was sitting at the computer with her headphones on.”

Brooke said she has written 10 “decent” songs and credits Taylor Swift for giving her the writing bug.

“First person I looked up to, she’s the reason that I kind of wanted to start writing because being like a teenager all her songs related to me and she was a big inspiration in my life,” she said.

Her producer on her next album also helped inspire her to start writing.

“I used to think writing was impossible but with Brent Bodrug, he helped me start writing and he just asked me questions like ‘what do you feel today?’ or ‘what’s on your mind?’ and we’ll just write about simple things like that,” She said.

Her uncle, on the other hand, got her interested in playing guitar.

“My uncle has been playing my whole life so I would always hear him at the campfire and stuff and he let me play with his and that was the first I ever touched. For Christmas I got my own and when I was 11 years-old I taught myself with some guidance from him and I loved it,” she said.

While she may have noticed her talent just a few years ago, Bruce doesn’t need to be pushed into performing and her mom is far from being a stage mom.

“It’s more so of us just trying to figure out how we were going to keep up with her. It’s been like four years now with you know, seeing the build from good to really good to oh my goodness we need to do something about this, “ Bruce-Slade said.

And do something they did. Brooke has performed during Canada Day celebrations to birthday parties and at church. She’s currently working on an album featuring four original songs to be released sometime near Halloween.

Her YouTube channel BrookeeBrucee features cover songs from The Band Perry to Sum 41 and her originals.

Her audition with Canada’s Got Talent takes place on September 30.