TRNSMT: Wallyford singer Brooke Combe performs at festival

Fast-forward 10 months and the talented musician has picked up a prize at the Scottish Music Awards, supported well-known singer Paolo Nutini, performed on the King Tut’s stage at this year’s TRNSMT festival and is getting ready to embark on her first headline tour.

The singer, who grew up in Wallyford, went viral with her version of the ’70s hit Yes Sir, I Can Boogie, by Baccara, which became a Scottish anthem after the men’s football team reached the European Championships for the first time in more than 20 years.

Then, Brooke, who grew up listening to James Brown and The Supremes, was named the Breakthrough Female at the national music awards.

When she was on holiday in Gran Canaria, she found out she would be supporting Scottish star Nutini, who has had four top-five albums.

Now, she is determined to build on her early success after describing performing at TRNSMT earlier this month as “another dream come true”.

Revellers at TRNSMT. Image: Lesley Martin/PA Wire

She said: “I was there last year – that was my first festival.

“I remember a lot of people coming up to me and saying: ‘Are you Brooke? How come you are not playing this year?’

“A year later and being there standing on the King Tut’s stage, we got a good little crowd in.

“It made the whole day amazing.

“The line-up that day – wow! I felt honoured just to be on the line-up with people like Sam Fender, Chic and Paolo Nutini.

“I was grateful to be on the same bill!”

Brooke’s seven-date headline tour will see the 22-year-old perform in Liverpool, Leeds, Manchester, Bristol, Nottingham and London before returning north to finish the tour in Glasgow.

Speaking to the Courier from Liverpool, Brooke, who attended Musselburgh’s Loretto RC Primary School, said: “I think for me, as a musician, I’m always saying to my band that I am always wanting to improve. You want to get really good at your craft.

“Just given the fact I have not really gigged, I have only been gigging for just about a year now, I want to show people what I was like at my first gig last August to this.

“I think on the headline tour people will see a massive, massive difference, not in music but stage persona and confidence.

“I’m doing all these shows, I have supported Miles Kane and that gave me bounds and bounds of confidence.

“I am excited to showcase what we have got.”

Before the tour gets under way, Brooke, whose mum Motayo lives in Tranent, has a number of music festivals, including Kendal Calling and Leeds Festival, to look forward to.

Performing in front of thousands is something that would have seemed a distant dream for the singer, who previously worked in a trampoline park, when she was a youngster.

'What have you got to lose?'

Now signed to Island Records, the former St David’s RC High School pupil said: “To be honest, I took a lot of convincing.

“Growing up, I was always getting told I should sing but I was a very shy person and did not really know how to sing properly.

“It was just on the backburner.

“My high school music teacher, I had a really good bond with her.

“She was really encouraging and she heard me singing and said I had to study it.

“That gave me that push to take it seriously as a profession.

“It only came during lockdown and I thought I just cannot do a normal job, a 9am to 5pm. Honestly, it would have just killed me off.

“It is one of those things where I want to wake up every day loving what I was doing.

“Life is short and what have you got to lose?”