In My Life Composer Joseph Brooks Commits Suicide at 73

Broadway and Hollywood composer Joseph Brooks was found dead of an apparent suicide at his Manhattan home on May 22. According to published reports, Brooks was discovered in his Upper East Side apartment by a friend; his head was wrapped in a plastic bag, which was connected to a tube from a nearby helium tank. He was 73 years old.

Brooks won numerous Clio Awards for writing advertising jingles, including "You've Got a Lot to Live" for Pepsi and "Good to the Last Drop" for Maxwell House. He gained fame when he won an Oscar for the 1977 movie theme “You Light Up My Life,” and went on to garner a Grammy and Golden Globe for the song, which was made famous by Debby Boone. In 2005, he served as producer, composer, lyricist, librettist and director of the bizarre Broadway flop In My Life. In the years following his Broadway outing, Brooks’ life took a very public decline. As previously reported, he was arrested and charged with sexual assault in June 2009. Prosecutors alleged that Brooks used Craigslist to lure women to his apartment on the premise of a movie audition. He pled not guilty, and had been awaiting trial on multiple charges of rape.