Jennifer Hudson's Family Killed In "Jealous Rage," Say Prosecutors

Jennifer Hudson's mother, brother and nephew were all killed "in a jealous rage," according to a prosecutor on the case. At a bail hearing yesterday, it was revealed that William Balfour thought his wife, Hudson's sister, was seeing another man. Balfour was charged with three counts of murder in the first degree, plus another charge of home invasion. Bail was denied. The prosecution told the court that Balfour told his wife "her family would suffer if he saw her with other men." Balfour's defense lawyer said his client is "a victim of circumstance," called the prosecution's case "a quilt with holes in it" and that no forensic evidence at the crime scenes point to Balfour.

Related Stories:
• Suspect In Hudson Murders Denied Parole, Admits He Was "Involved"
• Public Memorial Held For Jennifer Hudson's Relatives
• Body of Jennifer Hudson's Nephew Found Following Murder of Her Brother, Mother

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Song Stories

“Piano Man”

Billy Joel | 1973

Billy Joel’s first hit, “Piano Man,” was – ironically – an autobiographical lament about how his first album wasn’t a hit. When Cold Spring Harbor didn’t take off, Joel briefly became a lounge pianist in Los Angeles, and this song, about that experience, expressed his frustrations and fears at the time: “And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar/And say, ‘Man, what are you doing here?’” “It was all right,” Joel said later, about the gig. “I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I’d made in a long time.”

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