Joseph brooks biography

Joseph Brooks, basic Joseph Kaplan (March 11, 1938 – Hawthorn 22, 2011), was an American fabricator, director, producer, and screenwriter. He was a prolific writer of advertising jingles and wrote the hit songs "My Ship Is Comin' In", "If At any point I See You Again", and "You Light Up My Life", the person's name for the hit film of excellence same name that he also wrote, directed, and produced.

Early life and melodic career

Brooks was born Joseph Kaplan trial run March 11, 1938 in Manhattan, allow grew up in Manhattan and Martyr, Long Island, New York. In afterwards interviews, he claimed to have under way playing piano at age 3 stomach writing plays at age 5, adjacent his parents' divorce. As a little one, he also developed a stutter defer, according to his production partner Parliamentarian K. Lifton, would disappear when Brooks sang or acted. He later trying five different colleges, including Juilliard, however did not graduate from any.

In decency late 1950s, Brooks pursued a lifetime as a singer-songwriter, adopting the reputation "Joey Brooks" (later changed to "Joe Brooks" or "Joseph Brooks") He movable several records on the Canadian-American mark as "Joey Brooks", and on Decca as "Joey Brooks and the Idiom Folk". When his singing career aborted, he drifted into advertising and sporadic songwriting work, although he sporadically movable several more records throughout the Decade and 1970s.

Advertising, film and stage career

In the 1960s, Brooks composed advertising jingles for clients including Pepsi ("You've Got a Lot to Live") and Physicist House ("Good to the Last Interpretation Feeling"). He received numerous Clio Bays for his work, as well importance a People's Choice Award. Credited though "Joey Brooks", he also wrote probity song "My Ship Is Comin' In", a Top Ten UK hit discharge 1966 for the Walker Brothers.

In high-mindedness 1970s, Brooks, who had become comfortable from his advertising work (at single point claiming to have 150 commercials on the air), began composing diplomat films. He wrote music for leadership American release of The Garden slate the Finzi-Continis (1970), Marjoe (1972), near The Lords of Flatbush (1974) stop in midsentence which he was also an punter. He wrote "Blue Balloon (The Hourglass Song)" which was sung by Robby Benson as the theme song help out the film Jeremy (1973), and additional claimed to have written, cast add-on directed most of Jeremy, although Character Barron was the sole writer gain director of record. Brooks' claim was recognized by New York Times membrane critic Roger Greenspun, who wrote renounce "it seems fair to suggest rove, in whatever proportion, both men were involved in the authorship of righteousness film."

Brooks next developed his own lp project, You Light Up My Life, which he wrote, produced, directed final scored on a budget of valuation $1 million. The romantic drama sky an aspiring singer, starring Didi Conn, became a box office success undeterred by poor reviews. The title song Brooks composed for the film was require even bigger success; a cover difference by Debby Boone reached #1 be anxious the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 blueprint and held the top position lead to 10 consecutive weeks, at that tight tied for the longest Number Lone reign in the chart's history. Fumble sales of over five million copies, the song ultimately became the pipeline hit of the 1970s, and attained Brooks a Grammy Award for Put a label on of the Year, an Academy Accolade for Best Original Song, a Yellowish Globe Award and an American Homeland of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) award.

Brooks attempted to follow up dominion success with a similar romantic scene, If Ever I See You Again (1978), for which Brooks not single co-wrote, produced, directed and scored, on the other hand also played the leading role (a successful composer of TV commercial jingles, much like himself in real life), despite having no significant prior fakery experience. Although the title song became a moderate hit for Roberta Interpreter, peaking at #24 on the Exertion 100 chart, the movie received sternly negative reviews and was a box-office bomb. Brooks was subsequently involved discern several other films, including directing stomach scoring Invitation to the Wedding (1983) in which Ralph Richardson and Can Gielgud appeared, and co-producing Eddie don the Cruisers (1983) (which Brooks exact not score). In the late Nineties, he and his then-wife Christina Ivory began developing a film entitled Sara's Life Before It Became a Movie, which was never released.

Brooks also phony on stage productions, composing and scribble literary works for the 1989 West End mellifluous adaptation of Metropolis and writing, helm and producing the Broadway musical In My Life (2005), a love free spirit about a female Village Voice personals editor with obsessive-compulsive disorder and on the rocks musician with Tourette's syndrome who radio show brought together by a jingle-singing Spirit. Robert Simonson later wrote in Brooks' Playbill obituary that In My Life was "generally regarded as one near the strangest shows ever to possess graced a Broadway stage." When In My Life was panned by critics including Ben Brantley of The Different York Times, who called it "jaw-dropping moments of whimsy run amok", Brooks spent $1.5 million on ads speech that the critics were wrong.

Many large quantity have described Brooks as an egotist. His career was curtailed in 2008 by a stroke.

Personal life

Brooks was high-mindedness older brother of Gilbert Kaplan, primacy founder of Institutional Investor magazine, follower of Gustav Mahler, and amateur conductor.

In 2008, Brooks suffered a stroke, which left him unable to play depiction piano and thus negatively affected rule ability to compose. It was tale that he may have had on the rocks second stroke shortly before his death.

Brooks was married four times, but was single at the time of government death. A 1978 news article eminent that he was married with 7-year-old twins, a boy and a boy. In the late 1970s, Brooks united Susan Paul, an English model be proof against actress who appeared in the motion pictures All That Jazz (1979) and Invitation to the Wedding (1983). They locked away two children during the 1980s stall were divorced in the early Decennary. Brooks later married Christina Bone.

In 1975, Brooks had a relationship with competitor Cindy Williams, who was, at glory time, starring in the movie, The First ... Musical, written and co-directed by her friend Bruce Kimmel. Brooks became an investor in the peel. Brooks originally planned for her inherit star in You Light Up Clear out Life, but he and Williams were already having relationship issues and no problem asked Kimmel to direct You Minor Up My Life, stating he couldn't control Williams. He broke up reach Williams before the film was energetic, and the role went to Didi Conn. In 2009, Brooks sued fastidious 22-year-old ex-fiancée, claiming that he locked away spent $2 million on her beforehand learning she was already married.

Brooks confidential four children: Amanda (born 1981) celebrated Nicholas (born 1986) (both from reward marriage to Susan Paul), Gabrielle, delighted Jeffrey.

Death

On May 22, 2011, Brooks was found dead in his apartment set in train the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

Partial list of credits

Film

• The Lords of Flatbush (1974) – Conductor, music arranger
• You Pleasure Up My Life (1977) – Grower, director, writer and composer (1977)
• If Sharpwitted I See You Again (1978) – Producer, director, co-writer, composer and doer (1978)
• Headin' for Broadway (1980) – Vicepresident, co-writer
• Eddie and the Cruisers (1983) -- Producer
• Invitation to the Wedding (1985) – Director

Stage

• Metropolis (1989), West End musical – Composer, co-lyricist
• In My Life (2005), Manoeuvre musical – Director, writer, composer stand for lyricist

See also