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View Full Version : "You Light Up My Life" Songwriter Joseph Brooks Dead at 73


Zoneboy
05-22-2011, 03:47 PM
Link (http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/you_light_up_my_life_composer_broks_IicVKeBhvEP9JOEs75LXcI#ixzz1N71iP0SC)

Grammy-winning songwriter Joseph Brooks, facing rape and other sex charges, killed himself today in his Manhattan apartment, police said.

The 73-year-old Brooks was awaiting trial for rape and other sex charges. He was found found today with a plastic dry-cleaning bag around his head and a towel wrapped around his neck. There also was a helium tank with a hose attached.

Books won a Grammy and Academy Award for best original song for the 1977 ballad "You Light Up My Life." He wrote and directed the movie of the same name.

An autopsy will determine the cause of death. Police say a suicide note was found but they didn't reveal its contents.



'You Light Up My Life' composer and alleged rapist Joe Brooks was found dead in an apparent suicide.
Brooks pleaded not guilty in 2009 to rape, sexual abuse and other charges in the attacks on 13 women. His trial date had not been set.

Prosecutors say he lured most of the women to his apartment through an online ad offering auditions for a movie role, then sexually assaulted them after making them drink apparently drugged wine as part of an "acting exercise."

Brooks' son, Nicholas, has also been charged in a high-profile criminal case in New York.

Nicholas Brooks is charged with murder in the death of his girlfriend, Peruvian-American swimsuit designer Sylvie Cachay, who was found dead in an overflowing bathtub at the swank Soho House club and hotel in December. He has pleaded not guilty

ABlairican Pie
05-22-2011, 04:50 PM
I wonder if Debby Boone will have second thoughts about singing this in concert ever again.

Vahan
05-22-2011, 05:07 PM
My heart really (and I mean REALLY) goes out to all of his victims.

catlover79
05-22-2011, 10:18 PM
I wonder if Debby Boone will have second thoughts about singing this in concert ever again.

Well, she sang the song on Oprah this past October, and that was after the charges were made public. It's her signature song...no matter what, she'll never get out of a concert without singing it.

dakert
05-22-2011, 10:33 PM
WOW :eek: but I still like the song

catlover79
05-23-2011, 12:58 AM
WOW :eek: but I still like the song

He really was a gifted songwriter. Debby Boone and Roberta Flack were but two of the vocalists who brought his songs to life. It's just a sad, sad story no matter how you cut it.