Joe Raposo

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Joseph Raposo Jr., OIH (February 8, 1937 – February 5, 1989) was an American composer and lyricist, best known for his work on the children's television series Sesame Street, The Electric Company, Shining Time Station and on the sitcom Three's Company, including its theme song.

The son of Portuguese immigrants, Raposo was born in Fall River, Massachusetts. He was a graduate of Harvard College, class of 1958, where he was well known for writing the scores for several Hasty Pudding shows, and was a friend of Tom Lehrer.

Along with numerous Grammy and Emmy nods, his song "The First Time It Happens," from The Great Muppet Caper, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song in 1981, only to lose to "Arthur's Theme" from the film Arthur.

Raposo worked in musical theater. He was the musical supervisor and arranger for the original Broadway run of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, and contributed additional music to that play. In the 1970s, Raposo wrote original music for the animated film Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure; he later teamed with William Gibson (The Miracle Worker) to create a stage musical about Raggedy Ann. The musical was the first theatre company production from the United States to perform in the former Soviet Union upon resumption of cultural relations between the two countries. It later had a brief run on Broadway in 1986.

Raposo also collaborated with Sheldon Harnick (Fiddler on the Roof) on a musical adaptation of the 1948 film It's a Wonderful Life. A Wonderful Life was first performed at the University of Michigan in 1986, and had a successful run at Washington, DC's Arena Stage in 1991. It was performed in concert on Broadway for one night only on December 12, 2005; the production starred Brian Stokes Mitchell, David Hyde Pierce, and Judy Kuhn.

Raposo composed "Bein' Green," a song that has had success in popular culture and has been recorded by at least 25 artists, including Frank Sinatra and Ray Charles. His song "Sing," written for Sesame Street, earned a gold record for the Carpenters.

Raposo died in Bronxville, New York, in 1989 of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, three days before his 52nd birthday. He was survived by two sons from his first marriage and a son and a daughter^[1] from his marriage to Pat Collins-Sarnoff.^[2] In 1998, many of his manuscripts were donated by his widow, Pat Collins-Sarnoff, to Georgetown University Library^[1].

[edit] Trivia

The short-lived but memorable Sesame Street character Don Music kept a picture of Raposo on the wall; it was never actually identified on the show as such.

He also wrote the theme song of Three's Company spin-off, The Ropers.

Joe died exactly one week after the first episode of the final children's show he composed for, Shining Time Station, aired

Pop musician Gregory Raposo may be distantly related.