Raised in Kansas City, Brenna Whitaker fell in love with singers from an era long-ago. “Ruth Brown, Peggy Lee, Cab Calloway, Etta James – those are my people,” says the LA based vocalist. “I don’t know how I ended up knowing so many of their songs and standards. It’s almost like they found their way to me, like I’m from another time.”
After landing her first professional theater gig at age 11, studying with Broadway veterans in New York at 17, and spending her early twenties leading jazz bands in Missouri, Brenna headed to Los Angeles with her family.
Early on, she built a series of residencies around Hollywood attracting fans like Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Tom Jones, Gladys Knight, John Mayer, and Michael Bublé. Her “larger-than-life stage presence and haunting vocals” landed Brenna a recording contract with Verve/Universal Records, and her debut self titled album, produced by legendary David Foster.
Brenna is featured on the 2015 album We Love Disney, and was a featured singer on Andrea Bocelli’s tour.
With her Little Big Band, Brenna performs each holiday season for tech mogul and philanthropist, Larry Ellison, on his island of Lanai, HI at the Four Seasons resort. She performs monthly at Herb Alpert’s Vibrato Jazz Grill in Bel Air, CA, and is often invited to entertain at exclusive private events hosted by Gene Simmons, Mercedes Benz, Porsche, and the late Hugh Hefner to name a few.
Brenna Whitaker is hard at work on new music, and touring the world with The Brenna Whitaker Little Big Band.