'You Light Up My Life' writer and Oscar winner indicted for rape and other charges

[Liberal_in_LA]

'You Light Up My Life' writer indicted on sex

Manhattan D.A.'s office charged Brooks with rape, sexual abuse, other counts

Brooks won Oscar for 1977 No. 1 song


From Edmund DeMarche
CNN

NEW YORK (CNN) -- An Oscar-winning songwriter was indicted on charges of sexually assaulting women whom he would fly in to New York under the impression they were auditioning for movie roles, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office said Tuesday.


Songwriter Joe Brooks is best known for writing "You Light Up My Life" and directing the movie.

Joseph Brooks, 71, faces multiple charges including rape, criminal sexual act, sexual abuse, forcible touching, assault, grand larceny and criminal mischief. The charges involve 11 women, authorities said.

Brooks won the Oscar for best original song for the 1977 song, "You Light Up My Life." He also directed the movie, which is about a director who has a one-night stand with an actress.

"I'm flabbergasted," said actress Melanie Mayron, who starred in "You Light Up My Life."

Mayron said she did not stay in contact with Brooks over the years but described him as a "lovely man."

In the indictment, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau alleges that Brooks would fly women in from California, Florida and Oregon for private auditions.

He would serve the women one or two glasses of wine, said Lisa Friel, assistant district attorney.

The women described feelings that suggest a date-rape drug was used, she said, but added that toxicology results were unclear.

Shawni Lucier, Brooks' personal assistant, was also charged with criminal facilitation in connection with arranging some of the encounters.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/06/23/songwriter.indicted/index.html

[MADem]

1. What a sick shithead. He needs to be producing and directing the

annual play at the state pen for awhile, I think.

[BlooInBloo]

2. If true, just goes to show that talent != good person.

[MrSlayer]

3. He should have been in prison long ago for writing that song.

Maybe even executed.

[Berry Cool]

4. Funny, I was going to say that myself.

I would've arrested him back in 1977 for crimes against music.

And that song was number one for about a million weeks, too.

And they had to go and make a whole damn movie out of it, too. :puke:

[Liberal_in_LA]

18. The song was number 1 but also ridiculed, from what I recall

[Mari333]

6. *cough* LOL *cough* LOL

[Horse with no Name]

20. I am going to put the author of this thread on ignore

just for MENTIONING that song. MAKE THE MUSIC IN MY HEAD STOP....ARRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!

[Contrary1]

5. Damn, what a shame.

That was going to be Pat Boone's preznedetial campaign theme song.

[ProgressiveSuperhawk]

7. a 71 year old guy into younger women

he sounds like John McCain, in his 70s and into younger women

[seabeyond]

9. no, he sounds like a sick male raping women. what a dumbass post. n/t

[Raine]

14. Not even in the same league

McINsane might be many things but I've never heard any rape allegations. Please don't insinuate something like that, it makes us look as bad as freepers. x(

[Heidi]

23. It's not a crime for men of any age to be "into" adults of any age.

Rape, however, is a crime. Apples and oranges, but welcome to DU. :hi:

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. One of the worst songs ever

[Politicalboi]

10. Well I would say it ties with

Afternoon Delight, Disco Duck, Convoy.

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. Having My Baby

[Horse with no Name]

21. hey I like that one

:hide:

[Stevenmarc]

12. ..

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

19. The Night the Lights Went Out In Georgia, I've Been to Paradise (but I've Never Been To Me)

Muskrat Love. How people survived that particular era in music without ramming shish-ka-bob skewers through their eardrums remains a mystery to modern experts.

[themoreuknow]

13. I think Melanie Mayron was in "Car Wash," too.

[Raine]

15. Yes she was along

with being a regular on "Thirtysomething".

[themoreuknow]

16. Ah, yes...I knew she was in something a bit more prestigious!

I remember watching "30 Something" and then seeing "Car Wash" on the tube and not believing it was the same person.

[Odin2005]

17. Sick bastard!

:puke:

[regnaD kciN]

22. Even thirty years ago, that guy struck me as a pain-in-the-ass...

How he managed to get a gig writing and directing a Hollywood feature after having done little except be the "music arranger" for The Lords of Flatbush is a mystery to me. You Light Up My Life (the movie) was embarrassingly bad, but the success of the song enabled him to get backing (which, from interviews at the time, he indicated he richly deserved, because he was such a creative genius :eyes: ) for an even bigger ego-trip: If Ever I See You Again, a story about (wait for it) a composer who dreams of ditching jingle-writing and making it big in Hollywood (and reconnecting with a lost love), in which he not only wrote, produced, directed, and (of course) scored the movie, but also cast himself as the romantic lead despite the obvious fact that he had zero acting ability, and even less romantic charisma. When that film, predictably, bombed, he vanished from sight, and I assumed he'd retired to live off his royalties for That Song. How wrong I appear to have been. While I don't mean to trivialize the crime of rape, part of me wonders how on earth eleven actresses could have been so gullible as to jump at the chance to audition for a director who was never all that famous (except as a songwriter) to begin with, and had done virtually nothing for the past three decades.