Be My Music Information Page

Ethan Hurt who co-wrote "Be My Music" with Lee Curreri. Ethan is a musician, singer, song writer and film producer and he very kindly agreed to talk to us about a little about "Be My Music" which resulted in some very interesting information!

Firstly though his name because some of you may be thinking it doesn't say Ethan Hurt on your copy of the album or CD as he is also credited under Ethan Hurwitz, Ethan Horowitz and Ethan Horwitz. I'll let Ethan explain:

"The name issue is interesting for sure my friend and my name was legally changed from Hurwitz to Hurt in 1990, by a judge in NYC. I'd used the "Stage Name" Ethan Hurt since 1980. The mess up is with regard to publishers and record labels along the way who confused my legal name with my stage name, and with what my contracts said, and what I should be called and credited as, as well as, many, many typo issues along the way (lost in translation 101, via many releases in many countries at the same time....)... Hence, if you are still able to breathe after hearing this tale, because I cannot, I "legally" the name changed to "Hurt" so that this would cease to be an issue for me from 1990 onward into the future.... But here we are today still discussing it... LOL!"

Here's the interview with Ethan:

Kids From Fame Media: What was your Inspiration for writing “Be My Music”?

Ethan Hurt: "A girlfriend of mine named Susan Kraker, who now is a fine film maker and producer in Los Angeles. I was 16 and she was 15 at the time.

However, Lee and I wrote the final version of "Be My Music" together... My version, the original "Be My Music" (which in no way was the great final collaboration between me and Lee) had some of the current lyrics and the entire chorus as you now hear it in the final version, but needed Lee's genius for other great lyrics, musical betterment and to tie the entire song together... etc... It was therefore 100% a collaborative effort between us resulting in what we now hear as "Be My Music"...."

KFFM: Have you ever recorded “Be My Music” yourself or performed it in any of your own shows?

EH: "Performed at shows YES, Never recorded for an Ethan Hurt Album... Yet... maybe that's a great idea. Maybe ask Lee to join me in duet format somehow..."

(That would be great to see so I've said to Ethan that I will send a link to this page to Lee on Facebook and see if there is any response!)

KFFM: How did your song become involved in the Fame TV series? Did you have to submit the song for them to use or did they approach you to use the song?

EH: "Charles Koppelman, the executive producer, is from the same town I grew up in on Long Island NY, so I was able to get an interview with him pretty easily, at 16 I played for him some of my music in his offices in NYC and the rest is history. He heard "Be My Music" amongst many songs I played live for him that day, and when he heard BMM he said "Wow, now that's a hit"... Pretty cool huh?"

KFFM: Lee Curreri has said in an Interview that you wrote “Be My Music” and he wrote a song called “Rainy Weather Friend” and the two songs were merged together to form what we now know as “Be My Music”. Could you tell us your memories of what happened?

EH: "Cool! Wow! I never knew that. But it still is totally in harmony with my version of the story 100%...

PS: Please send me that interview, I love it!"

As requested I sent the interview to Ethan and also added it to a video I made for the Album Version of "Be My Music" Press Play below to hear what Lee had to say or read below:

Lee Curreri: "You know I think "Be My Music" might be a good bet because that was something that I wrote. And actually I wrote a song that was self contained and it was one of the guys that was working on music on the show, decided to marry that song to another song. Cause my song was "Rainy Weather Friend" and, er and and this other guy's song was "Be My Music" and and it came together in that Ethan's part of the song was the hook and then my part of the song was the verses and the bridge, and so it sort of had an interesting a little er, sort of a... what I thought at the time was a shot gun wedding but now I listen to it, it seems to work pretty well."

KFFM: Were you involved in the merging of the songs and did you and Lee work together on this or did someone else merge the songs?

EH: "Lee and I worked together apart... he did the final merge. I was 17 by this time, just prior to inclusion in the show and the album, it was my first professional foray into the music business, and Lee was the "PRO" mentor on this one.... That being said, his writing and "merging" skills were/are brilliant. So No I am not "The merger"...."

KFFM: Were you happy with the finished results?

EH: "Yes, happy... Blown away actually."

KFFM: The Kids From Fame album from which “Be My Music” comes was a huge selling record, certainly in the U.K. when it was originally released back in 1982. Did you get Royalties from the album or were you just paid a flat fee for the use of your song?

EH: "Still am getting royalties from "Be My Music"... Bought my first cool apartment in NYC with the first proceeds from "Be My Music", that... and a BMW... The song was slated to be released as a single and never was... That being said, had it been released as a single, I would have been able to buy the entire building, LOL..."

Footnote, "and I am not sure Lee would be happy to hear this, as I am not happy to re-tell this tale. No names here... But the Publisher at that time back in 1983, was approached by Barry Manilow who wanted to follow up his huge HIT "I Write the Songs" with "Be My Music", a pretty cool idea and great, logical fit. He (Barry) wanted to do all NEW Barry Manilow music on the remainder of the album. ALL his own brilliant songs, all his own publishing etc.... The deal fell apart because, the nameless publisher in question, wanted more than half the record to contain songs that HE (the nameless publisher) owned and controlled... The outcome? Barry Manilow walked away from "Be My Music" and that deal. Greed is a powerful thing Huh?"

Footnote #2: "Journey was almost pursued, but not... "Faithfully" released after "Be My Music", well. go take a listen side by side with "Be My Music"... Enjoy that one... LOL."

(Listen to Journey's Faithfully to compare just how similar the music is to "Be My Music".)