Ramona Brooks

Ramona L. Brooks (January 8, 1951 – June 2, 2014) was an American singer, actress, and Broadway performer. She was a member of Lady Flash, the backup group for Barry Manilow, and appeared on his 1975 album Tryin' to Get the Feeling. Her vocal coach was Tom Spahn. Brooks also contributed to Lizzy Mercier Descloux's 1979 album Press Color.

Her Broadway career spanned 1974 to 1976 and included two productions. She appeared alongside Doug Henning in the musical The Magic Show at the Cort Theater, and with Billy Dee Williams in I Have a Dream at the Ambassador Theater in 1976.

As a recording artist, Brooks released solo material that charted on two separate Billboard surveys. Her 1977 single Skinnydippin reached number 94 on what is now the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, and her 1981 single I Don't Want You Back climbed to number 55 on the U.S. Dance Club Songs chart.

Her film work included a role as "Hooker #1" in the 1980 Frank Sinatra film The First Deadly Sin and as "Hooker #2" in the 1983 film Vigilante.

Brooks came from a musically connected family. Her brother Paul Stubblefield was the drummer for Sounds of Unity and Love, a Cleveland jazz and funk group active in the 1970s, and her cousin is Hammond organ player Ike Stubblefield. Brooks died of cancer in a hospice facility in Oregon on June 2, 2014.