Wadsworth's Gina Brooklyn records in famed Capitol Studios

When it comes to the music business, Capitol Studios in Hollywood represents the highest level of entertainment industry success where very few artists have recorded. Located in the iconic Hollywood white-awning building, the famed recording studios over the decades have hosted sessions with everyone from Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin to The Beach Boys, Prince and more recently Imagine Dragons, Muse and Sam Smith. Now Wadsworth's own Gina Brooklyn (real name Gina Marie) can add her name to the illustrious list. As winner of a global songwriting contest, the Djooky Music Awards, the singer-songwriter earlier this year flew to Los Angeles for a Capitol Studios session. While Brooklyn has been singing and playing music for over a decade, including performing on Northeast Ohio stages and previously recording in studios in Los Angeles, Nashville and Cleveland, Capitol Studios was definitely a different experience. "It was insane, oh my gosh," said Brooklyn, 20, "The history in that building. It's beautiful in person. The mixing boards are humongous. It's so pretty. The studios themselves are gorgeous. It's crazy I was able to record in them." During her visit to California, Brooklyn spent a week writing and recording with Djooky co-founder and producer Brian Malouf (Madonna and Michael Jackson). While in Los Angeles, the multi-instrumentalist — who plays everything from piano and guitar to ukulele and cajon — also met various industry insiders and musicians. As for winning the Djooky competition, Brooklyn — who submitted the song "No More Hiding" — beat out more than 350 artists from around the world. She said the experience, albeit delayed due to the pandemic, lived up to its billing. "Everything about it is just so incredible," Brooklyn said. "The whole Djooky theme is incredible. The competition is basically where you enter a song and you kind of campaign for yourself in a way. "It's kind of the opposite of 'American Idol' works, how when they enter the competition the judges kind of vote in the beginning and at the end. This competition was a campaign for yourself the whole way through and at the end the judges make the final decision." As part of the contest, Brooklyn cut the song "Be Kind," which she co-wrote with Dan Epand (formerly of Nico Vega), a drummer-songwriter-producer from California. "It's a little slower but it has a lot of drive to it," Brooklyn said. "It has a '70s and '80s feel, which is really cool." While Brooklyn is unsure when "Be Kind" will be released as a single, she's looking forward to eventually putting out her full-length debut. There are also other plans in the mix that — knock on wood — will soon become a reality. "It's up in the air for a moment," Brooklyn said. "There are definitely big things that have come my way that I can't talk about yet because they're not set in stone, but I'm very excited." When it's mentioned that her continued success probably means sooner rather than later she'll probably be moving to a coast or the Music City, Brooklyn offers a surprising response that speaks to a maturity beyond her years. "Every time I leave and come back, there's a new appreciation that I have for Ohio," Brooklyn said. "I've thought about maybe staying here in the future if things work out. Maybe I'll get a different house and fly everywhere I need to be instead of living there. We'll see what happens," For more information, visit ginabrooklyn.com. Contact John Benson at ndiffrence@att.net.