Okay, this is weird. The weird part was not ’70s Punk icon Patti Smith singing “You Light Up My Life” on a late 70s/early 80s children show. Not her, nor her choice of song or her choice of appearance.
The guy accompanying her on the piano? That’s Joseph Brooks, who wrote the Oscar winning tune. The weird, and ultimately sad part was, despite the fact that Joe Brooks had composed the biggest selling love song in the 1970s, the man was an accused rapist who just committed suicide earlier this week.
That’s not all. His own son stands accused of murder, currently at Rikers Island without bail. Apparently Nicholas Brooks killed his girlfriend Sylvie Cachay, an up-and-coming swimsuit designer.
A modern day story worthy of Kenneth Anger’s Hollywood Babylon book series.
When I was a kid, we used to sing this song during music class.
New York Times article about Joseph Brooks
Case continues beyond the grave
NY Mag article about both Joseph and Nicolas Brooks.
Wikipedia entry about children program “Kids Are People Too”
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