Hadda Brooks, born Hattie L. Hapgood on October 29, 1916, in Los Angeles, California, was an influential American pianist, vocalist, and composer. Known as the "Queen of the Boogie," she was a significant figure in the transition of Black popular music from swing jazz and boogie woogie to rhythm & blues, which laid the foundation for rock & roll. Brooks began her career in the mid-1940s, with a recording deal initiated by Jules Bihari of Modern Records, who gave her the stage name "Hadda Brooks." She was inducted into the Rhythm and Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 1993.

Throughout her career, Brooks was known for her elegant vocals and jazzy arrangements, which were initially successful but later left her less competitive against the emerging harder-driving forms of R&B and early rock & roll. Despite this, she continued to perform and record, with notable albums like "Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere" in 1994 and "Time Was When" in 1996. Her performances included singing at Hawaii's statehood ceremony in 1959 and a private audience with Pope Pius XII.

Brooks also appeared in films, including "In a Lonely Place" (1950) and "The Bad and the Beautiful" (1952). She was married to Earl "Shug" Morrison of the Harlem Globetrotters in 1940 but was widowed within a year. Hadda Brooks passed away on November 21, 2002, in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 86, after undergoing open-heart surgery.