Brooke Gabrielle Ligertwood (née Fraser; born 15 December 1983) also known by her maiden name Brooke Fraser, is a New Zealand singer and songwriter best known for her hit single “Something in the Water”, released in 2010. Fraser released two studio albums What to Do with Daylight (2003) and Albertine (2006) through Columbia Records before signing a recording contract with Wood + Bone. Her third studio album, Flags, was released in 2010 and is her most successful album to date. She released the album, Brutal Romantic, was released in November 2014 through Vagrant Records. Her latest album, her first live album, Seven was released in 2022.

Fraser became a member of the Australian Christian music group Hillsong Worship from 2005 to 2010; she rejoined the group in 2016 since she was the songwriter and lead vocalist for the Grammy winning song “What a Beautiful Name”, which was credited under her married name Brooke Ligertwood. Other well-known songs written and performed by Fraser (both with Hillsong Worship and as a solo artist) include “Hosanna”, “Lead Me To The Cross”, “Better”, “Who You Say I Am”, “King of Kings”, “Awake My Soul”.

Fraser is the eldest of three children born to former All Black Bernie Fraser, who was born in Lautoka, Fiji, and his wife Lynda. Her father is of Fijian, Portuguese, and Scottish descent. She has two brothers: Matthew, who lives in Wellington, and Shea, who lives in Dunedin. Fraser grew up in Naenae, Lower Hutt and attended Dyer Street School, Naenae Intermediate School and Naenae College.

Fraser took piano lessons between the ages of seven and seventeen. She started writing songs at age twelve and taught herself the acoustic guitar at age fifteen. She began writing for the Soul Purpose magazine at age fifteen and was later made editor in 2002. She gave up her job as editor shortly after moving to Auckland in late 2002 in order to pursue her music career. In 2002, at the age of 18, Fraser signed a multi album deal with Sony Music, after a fierce bidding war between labels.

Fraser’s first album, What to Do with Daylight, was released in New Zealand in late 2003, which debuted at No. 1 and achieved gold status the same week. The album eventually went seven times platinum, which sold over 105,000 copies in New Zealand alone. It remained on the album charts for sixty-six weeks. All five singles from the album reached the top twenty in the New Zealand Singles Chart. Her album also topped the New Zealand Top 50 Albums for all of 2004. The album also achieved gold status in Australia.

Following the release of What to Do with Daylight, Fraser toured Australia and New Zealand with American recording artist John Mayer and then toured New Zealand with veteran English rock artist David Bowie. In 2005, prior to writing and preparing her follow-up album, Fraser went to Rwanda before visiting her World Vision sponsor children in Tanzania. Fraser wrote the song “Albertine” about a young genocide victim (named Albertine), whom she met while in Rwanda. This song became her second album’s title track. For this album, Fraser decided to enlist a new band of American session musicians who had worked with an array of notable artists, both live and recorded.

In 2006, Fraser and the band went into the studio in Los Angeles to record the album with producer Marshall Altman. The first single, “Deciphering Me”, reached No. 4 in the New Zealand single charts in 2006. On 4 December 2006, the album, Albertine, was released in New Zealand, which achieved double platinum status less than a month after its release. The album was released in Australia and internationally on 31 March 2007. In Australia, it charted at No. 29 in its first week on 9 April and has achieved Gold sales status. Albertine also became Fraser’s US debut, released on 27 May 2008. It entered the Billboard 200 at No. 90 on 19 July 2008. The album was propelled by online sales after being chosen as Editor’s Choice on iTunes. In 2008, Fraser undertook a major world tour, culminating the Montreal Jazz Festival and the Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London, UK. “Albertine” (the single) won the prestigious APRA Silver Scroll for Song of the Year in 2007.

Flags was recorded at East West Studios in Hollywood in mid 2010 and released on 12 October 2010, in New Zealand, Australia and North America. Fraser celebrated with sold-out tours in all territories. Flags reached No. 1 on the New Zealand album chart, No. 3 in Australia and entered at No. 59 on the Billboard 200 in the US. Flags has been certified Gold in Australia and 3× Platinum in New Zealand, where it was also the sixth-highest-selling album of 2010. The first single, “Something in the Water”, achieved extensive radio success across the globe; notably, it received BBC Radio 2 A-list rotation in the top 10 in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Finland and Belgium and is a gold single in Germany and Italy. The single achieved double platinum sales in NZ where it spent 21 weeks in the 2010 singles chart. Flags was released in July 2011 in Europe and debuted in the album charts at No. 6 in Germany, No. 33 in Austria and No. 24 in Switzerland. A month after its release, Flags remained in the German top twenty at No. 13 and “Something in the Water” on the singles charts at No. 8. Flags was released in October 2011 in Hungary and reached No. 15 on the national album chart by the second week of release. Flags was later released in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland on 7 November 2011.