Happy Birthday to Tony-winning writer Rupert Holmes, born David Goldstein on Feb. 24, 1947, in Northwich, Cheshire, England. When Holmes was 6, his family moved to the New York City suburb of Nanuet, where he attended Nyack H.S. After graduating from Manhattan School of Music, he worked as a session musician and music arranger for Brill Building songwriters. He had his first Top 40 hit in 1970 with “Jennifer Tomkins,” which he recorded as The Cuff Links, later renamed The Street People. (On his website, you can read my interview of him with more details.)
Holmes followed the next year with the Top 20 hit “Timothy,” recorded by The Buoys, as well as jingles, film songs for revenge westerns and crime dramas, and pop tunes for Gene Pitney, The Platters, The Drifters, Wayne Newton, Dolly Parton, Barry Manilow, and The Partridge Family. Below is David Cassidy singing “Echo Valley 2-6809” on the Sept. 24, 1971, Partridge Family episode.
As a recording artist, Holmes broke through with his first album, Widescreen (1974), which caught the attention of Barbra Streisand, who used some of his songs in the 1976 movie A Star Is Born, earning him BAFTA and Grammy nominations for best film score. Holmes also worked on Streisand’s Lazy Afternoon (1975) and five more of her albums. Below is Streisand singing “Everything” in A Star Is Born.
He continued to write and produce songs for himself and others, landing the #1 hit “Escape (The Piña Colada Song)” on his fifth album, Partners in Crime (1979), which also included the Top 40 hits “Him” and “Answering Machine.” Below is the TV premiere of “Escape,” performed by Holmes on the Jan. 11, 1980, episode of The Midnight Special.
Holmes made his Broadway debut with the book, music, and lyrics for The Mystery of Edwin Drood, which opened Off-Broadway in 1985 and soon moved uptown. The production earned 11 Tony nods, winning five (including musical plus book and score for Holmes) and 15 Drama Desk nods, winning nine (including musical plus book, music, lyrics, and orchestrations for Holmes). Below is the cast at the 1986 Tonys, performing “There You Are / Don’t Quit While You’re Ahead.”
During the 1990s, Holmes returned to Broadway with the mystery Accomplice (1990) and solo show Solitary Confinement (1992) and began musicalizing the 19th century novels The Phantom of the Opera and The Picture of Dorian Gray, both as yet unproduced. He also created the musical TV series Remember WENN (1996-98). Below is Betty Buckley singing “You Make It Christmas” on the Dec. 21, 1996, episode of that show.
In 2002, Holmes earned a Tony nomination for his George Burns bio play Say Goodnight, Gracie, collaborated on the musical Marty with Charles Strouse and Lee Adams, and created the tango revue Swango. In 2005, he premiered adaptations of his 2003 debut novel Where Truth Lies and his 2005 book Swing. He ended the decade working on the Kander and Ebb musical Curtains, which opened on Broadway in 2007 and earned eight Tony nominations. Below is Tony winner David Hyde Pierce leading the cast in “Show People” at the 2007 Tonys.
In the past decade, Holmes has worked on several new musicals, including The First Wives’ Club (2009) with Holland-Dozier-Holland, Robin and the 7 Hoods (2010), The Nutty Professor (2012) with Marvin Hamlisch, and Secondhand Lions (2013). In 2013, he also returned to Broadway with the play A Time to Kill, adapted from the John Grisham novel, and wrote songs with Hamlisch for the Liberace biopic Behind the Candelabra. Below is a preview of the musical The Nutty Professor.