Rupert Holmes (born David Goldstein; February 24, 1947) is a British-American composer, singer-songwriter, dramatist and author.
He is also known for his musicals The Mystery of Edwin Drood, which earned him two Tony Awards, and Curtains, his AMC television series Remember WENN, and his novel Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide.
Holmes played the piano for both the Cuff Links and the Buoys,[7] with whom he had his first international hit, "Timothy", which was on the Hot 100 for 17 weeks beginning on January 2, 1971, a number 17 song about human cannibalism that intentionally drew controversy.
Holmes also wrote jingles and pop tunes (including for Gene Pitney, the Platters, the Drifters, Wayne Newton, Dolly Parton, Barry Manilow and television's the Partridge Family),[7][9] as well as the score of the 1970 revenge western Five Savage Men (also known as The Animals), which starred Keenan Wynn.
[11] Holmes's second, self-titled album led Rolling Stone to compare him with Bob Dylan as an artist of unprecedented originality who commanded attention.
[12] Holmes's production skills were also in demand during this period, and he took on this role for Lynsey de Paul's album Tigers and Fireflies, which spawned the radio hit "Hollywood Romance".
In 1986, Holmes's composition "You Got It All" (sometimes called "You Got It All Over Him") was a top 3 hit single for the Jets; it was later recorded by Britney Spears and featured in her internationally released version of Oops!...
In the 1980s and 1990s, Holmes also played in cabarets and comedy clubs, mostly in New York City, telling often autobiographical anecdotes illustrated with his songs.
The result, loosely based on Charles Dickens's unfinished novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and inspired by Holmes's memories of English pantomime shows he attended as a child, was a hit in New York's Central Park and on Broadway.
Holmes has written a number of other shows, including Solitary Confinement, which played on Broadway at the Nederlander Theatre in 1992[18] and set a new Kennedy Center box office record before its Broadway run; Thumbs, the most successful play in the history of the Helen Hayes Theatre Company; and the musical Marty (2002), starring John C.
[21][22] Holmes joined the creative team of the musical Curtains after the deaths of both Peter Stone (the original book-writer) and Fred Ebb (the lyricist).
Holmes rewrote Stone's original book and contributed additional lyrics to the Kander and Ebb songs.
Curtains played at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre on Broadway, with David Hyde Pierce and Debra Monk in the lead roles.
Holmes and Peter Stone (posthumously) won the 2007 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical for Curtains.
[30] The courtroom drama, set against a background of evolving 1980s Southern racial politics, was called "funny, shocking, witty, and sly".
[34] In 2016, The Sweet Potato Queens, with music by Melissa Manchester, lyrics by Sharon Vaughn and a book by Holmes, premiered at TUTS Underground.
His next novel, Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide (2023);[36] peaked at number six on the New York Times Best Seller list for hardcover fiction on March 12, 2023.