Songwriter and recording artist In his 20s, Holmes was a session musician (producing sessions, writing and arranging songs, singing and playing a few instruments). In 1969, Holmes and
Ron Dante of
the Cuff Links (and
the Archies) recorded "Jennifer Tomkins" for release on their second album,
The Cuff Links. During the recording of that album, Dante was prohibited by the studio that produced the Archies from any involvement in new recording ventures and was forced to drop out of the Cuff Links. Holmes finished the project and released "Jennifer Tomkins" separately under a different studio name, Street People (not related to the mid-1970s band
the Street People). The song was on the
Billboard Hot 100 for 15 weeks, beginning January 3, 1970, reaching a peak of number 36. In Canada the song reached number 21. A follow-up single called "Thank You Girl" reached number 96 on the Billboard pop charts in April 1970. Holmes played the piano for both the Cuff Links and
the Buoys, 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. He also wrote "Give Up Your Guns" (which peaked at number 84), "The Prince of Thieves", "Blood Knot", and "Tomorrow" for the band. 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), as well as the score of the 1970 revenge
western Five Savage Men (also known as
The Animals), which starred
Keenan Wynn. As a recording artist, Holmes broke through with his first album, 1974's
Widescreen on
Epic Records, Holmes's second, self-titled album led
Rolling Stone to compare him with
Bob Dylan as an artist of unprecedented originality who commanded attention. 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". The album also featured the bluesy song "'Twas", co-written by Holmes and de Paul. He additionally produced
Sparks' 1976 LP,
Big Beat, though the album was not a success. In 1975, together with Jeffrey Lesser, Holmes produced the UK band
Sailor's album
Trouble (CBS Epic). "
Escape (The Piña Colada Song)" was on Holmes's fifth album,
Partners in Crime, and was the final
Hot 100 number 1 of 1979. Another popular song on that album was "
Him", which peaked at number 6 on the Hot 100. Holmes had another top-40 hit with "Answering Machine". 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!... I Did It Again (2000). His song "The People That You Never Get to Love" was featured on four albums by
Susannah McCorkle:
The People That You Never Get to Love (1981),
From Bessie to Brazil (1993),
Most Requested Songs (2001), and
Ballad Essentials (2002).
Frank Sinatra Jr. also recorded the tune on his 2006 album
That Face! 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. In 2021, Holmes received an honorary
Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the
Manhattan School of Music.
Playwright Holmes made his professional debut as a playwright with the
musical The Mystery of Edwin Drood in 1985.
Joseph Papp and his wife encouraged Holmes to write a musical after they attended one of his cabarets in 1983. 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. Because Dickens left the novel unfinished at his death, Holmes employed the unusual device of providing alternate endings for each character suspected of the murder, and letting the audience vote on a different murderer each night. The show earned Holmes the
Tony Award for both book and score, as well as the
Drama Desk Awards for
lyrics,
music, the
book and
orchestrations, among various other honors. The musical has been given London and Broadway revivals, among others, garnering another Tony nomination for best revival.
Drood success led Holmes to write other plays (both musical and non-) in later years, though he has said that he avoided musical theater for some time after his daughter's death. Holmes also wrote
Say Goodnight, Gracie (2003), which was nominated for a
Tony Award for Best Play, based on the relationship between
George Burns and
Gracie Allen. The play, which starred
Frank Gorshin, was that Broadway season's longest-running play and became the third-longest-running solo-performance show in Broadway history; it also won the
National Broadway Theatre Award for best play in 2004. He wrote the comedy-thriller
Accomplice in 1990, the second of Holmes's plays to receive an
Edgar Award (after
Drood) and also won a Mystery Writers of America award. Holmes has written a number of other shows, including
Solitary Confinement, which played on Broadway at the
Nederlander Theatre in 1992 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. Reilly. He wrote the book to
Swango: The Theatrical Dance Experience, a swing-tango dance piece that premiered Off-Broadway in 2002 inspired by
Romeo and Juliet. It has had several revivals. 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 and was nominated for two more Tonys for
Curtains. Holmes wrote the book of the musical ''
The First Wives' Club, adapted from the film The First Wives Club. The musical premiered at The Old Globe Theater in San Diego, California in 2009. Its score is by Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland and Eddie Holland. The production received generally unenthusiastic reviews but sold well. Linda Bloodworth-Thomason wrote a new book, and the reworked show opened in Chicago in 2015. Holmes next wrote the book for a jukebox musical, Robin and the 7 Hoods
, inspired by the 1964 film Robin and the 7 Hoods'' starring
Frank Sinatra, with a new story line that Holmes set in 1962. Songs are by
Sammy Cahn and
Jimmy Van Heusen, including "
My Kind of Town". A production ran in 2010, also at the Old Globe.
Casey Nicholaw directed and choreographed. The story is about a likable gangster hoping to get out of the crime business. A do-gooder TV reporter likens him to a modern-day Robin Hood. Holmes adapted the
John Grisham novel and
film A Time to Kill for the stage. The play premiered at the
Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., in 2011. The courtroom drama, set against a background of evolving 1980s Southern racial politics, was called "funny, shocking, witty, and sly". He wrote the book and lyrics for
The Nutty Professor, a musical based on the 1963 film
The Nutty Professor.
Marvin Hamlisch wrote the score. The musical was directed by
Jerry Lewis and premiered in
Nashville, Tennessee, in 2012. With Hamlisch, he also wrote songs for the 2013
Liberace biopic
Behind the Candelabra. In 2016,
The Sweet Potato Queens, with music by
Melissa Manchester, lyrics by
Sharon Vaughn and a book by Holmes, premiered at
TUTS Underground. Holmes's play
All Things Equal: The Life and Trials of Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a one-woman show starring Michelle Azar as Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG). The play takes place in RBG's chambers, where she shares stories of her career, life and struggles such as losing her mother, raising a child while studying law at Harvard, and fighting for women's rights in the 1970s. The piece has toured the U.S. since 2022 and has dates scheduled into 2026. Holmes adapted the libretto of
The Pirates of Penzance with a
New Orleans setting for
Roundabout Theatre Company's production
Pirates! The Penzance Musical, which played on Broadway from April to July 2025. A concert of this concept was staged in October 2022 by Roundabout.
Television writer and novelist In 1996, Holmes created the
AMC television series
Remember WENN for
American Movie Classics, writing the theme song and writing or co-writing all but one of the 56 episodes of that series. In 2003, he published his first novel,
Where the Truth Lies (later adapted into the film
Where the Truth Lies by
Atom Egoyan), followed in 2005 by
Swing, a
multimedia release combining a novel with a music CD providing clues to the mystery. His next novel,
Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide (2023); peaked at number six on the
New York Times Best Seller list for hardcover fiction on March 12, 2023. ==Discography==