Introduction

Biography

Brooks was the son of Na­than Ev­er­ett and Mary Do­ty, and bro­ther of com­pos­ers Ben­ja­min and Le­on­ard Ev­er­ett.

He orig­in­al­ly planned to be a doc­tor, but went in­to mu­sic in­stead. He stu­died in Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts, and Leip­zig, Ger­ma­ny. He gra­du­at­ed from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Nash­ville (Ten­nes­see) in 1857; the school closed in 1909, though its me­dic­al col­lege merged with Van­der­bilt Uni­ver­si­ty, and much of its oth­er cur­ri­cu­la merged with Pea­bo­dy Col­lege (which it­self merged with Van­der­bilt lat­er).

Brooks wrote ma­ny Gos­pel songs, and ed­it­ed The Scep­tre (New York: Big­low & Main). He was in­duct­ed in­to the Gos­pel Mu­sic Hall of Fame in 1993.

Brooks and Le­on­ard or­gan­ized a mu­sic­al in­struct­ion sys­tem in Rich­mond, Vir­gin­ia, in the 1850’s. By 1861, 50 teach­ers and sing­ing schools were re­pre­sent­ing them and us­ing their pub­li­ca­tions.