Trumpet player (from the age of six) and bandleader, formerly with Claude Thornhill and Les Brown. Formed his own swing band in February 1945 under the auspices of the General Amusement Corporation, opening at the Howard Theater in Washington D.C.. Tenor saxophonist Stan Getz started his career with Brooks a year later. In 1949, Brooks married female bandleader Ina Ray Hutton (the sister of Betty Hutton). He had notable hits for Decca with "Tenderly" and "Harlem Nocturne" but his popularity had waned by the late 1940's. Brooks suffered a stroke in 1950 which ended his career and left him partially paralyzed.