Joseph Brooks, whose 1977 hit “You Light Up My Life” won him an Oscar, a Grammy and a spot on the pop charts, killed himself in his Manhattan apartment.
His life had taken a depressing turn recently.
Brooks was 73 and facing trial on 82 counts of sexual abuse for allegedly raping 11 young actresses whom he reputedly lured to his Upper East Side residence.
In addition, his estranged son, Nicholas Brooks, 25, was awaiting trial for allegedly strangling his girlfriend, swimsuit designer Sylvie Cachay, in a bathtub.
A friend who was to have lunch with Joe Brooks on Sunday alerted police, who found the songwriter with a plastic dry cleaning bag and a towel over his head.
A hose attached to a tank of helium gas was near his lifeless body, reports the New York Daily News, which says that Brooks’ suicide note was also left behind.
Debby Boone won a Grammy for her cover of Brooks’ You Light Up My Life” from the movie of the same name, which he wrote, directed and produced.
In 2005, Brooks took his act to Broadway with a musical for which he wrote the libretto and score, called In My Life and about a songwriter with Tourette’s.