"You Light Up My Life" Songwriter Charged With Sexual Assaults

Joseph Brooks, the songwriter who won an Oscar for his 1977 hit "You Light Up My Life," was arrested and charged with 91 counts of rape and sexual assault charges yesterday in Manhattan, the New York Times reports. Brooks, now 71, allegedly advertised on Craigslist in Portland and Seattle for aspiring actresses and lured respondents back to his Upper East Side apartment, where District Attorney Robert Morgenthau says he forced them to drink wine and assaulted them. The incidents occurred between 2005 and 2008, but Morgenthau says the DAs office is also investigating other possible attacks dating back to 1970. Brooks' attorney Jeffrey C. Hoffman, said his client would plead not guilty and that the charges "look preposterous," the Times reports. "You Light Up My Life," which was penned for the film of the same name, won an Academy Award in 1978; the platinum Debby Boone cover set a Billboard record for longest time spent at Number One.

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Song Stories

“Tonight's the Night”

The Shirelles | 1960

The lead cut and title track from this girl group's debut album, "Tonight's the Night" was written by 19-year-old bandmember Shirley Owens, who sings lead, and producer Luther Dixon. The band from Passaic, New Jersey met in high school, first calling themselves the Pequellos. The song's frank thoughts about sexual and emotional surrender was racy for the time, but that didn't stop the Chiffons from cutting a similar version immediately after the original came out. "We were the first female group to write some of our own material," band member Beverly Lee recalls. "We did have some say-so in our writing."

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