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She says Stephen and Joe shared a "goofy and mischievous" sense of humor.

Cathy says one of Stephen's closest friends growing up was Joe Frank, who would later become a cult favorite on KCRW and public radio nationwide. When friends were over, "he would have Stephen sit under the piano and his father would play a chord and Stephen would call out the notes," she says. His father, who also was a musician, "loved to show Stephen off," she says. His wife, Cathy Lawrence, a New York cantor, says Stephen "was one of those five-year-olds who could walk to the piano and play anything." He wasn't much of a sight-reader, she elaborates, but could pick up just about anything by ear. Stephen Lawrence grew up in Great Neck, N.Y. I love the idea of the horses running free, but the music was so perfect." "They had called it 'Free to be you and me, Gymboree'-you know, lyricists love those little triplets," Thomas remembers, "And I didn't like the gymboree part, but I loved it right away. She remembers when Lawrence and Hart first played her the title track. You and Me was "a project for children that was non-sexist and non-racist, and would give them a feeling of power, both boys and girls," Thomas explains. "He was adorable and fun, but he was very serious about the music," Marlo Thomas tells NPR. "They all performed on the million selling record and/or Emmy winning special, 'Free to Be.You and Me.' I was the Music Director and composed the title song and four others for the landmark project and I am going to tell you, from the beginning, how we created the music." "What do Marlo Thomas, Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Roberta Flack, Dionne Warwick, Mel Brooks, Rosey Grier, and Harry Belafonte have in common?" he wrote on his website. Lawrence was tremendously proud to have provided the melodies and harmonies to songs performed by vocalists he admired. His wife, Cathy Lawrence, tells NPR that he suffered "puzzling symptoms for years that got sharply worse in the last few months."

Lawrence died on December 30 at Clara Maass Medical Center in Belleville, N.J. You and Me, the beloved children's music album conceived and produced by actress Marlo Thomas, and composed songs for the project, including the title track, with the late lyricist Bruce Hart. He also served as music director for Free to Be. From Muppets to major stars, Lawrence composed the music for hundreds of Sesame Street songs.

If you were a kid in the 1970s and your parents let you watch TV, you heard the music of Stephen Lawrence.