Two days after she brought a cheering Capitol Theatre audience to its feet with her stirring rendition of “Stars” at a benefit concert to honor her slain stepfather, NYPD Det. Joseph Lemm, nicknamed “Superman,” the Harrision High School senior Brooke Chaco told “Fox and Friends” that “it’s easier for us to get through this because we have so much support.”
Lemm died shortly before Christmas when he thrust himself between a suicide attacker and his comrades-in-arms while serving his third deployment as an Air National Guard technical sergeant in Afghanistan. He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star, the nation’s fourth highest military decoration.
Chaco took to the venerable stage in Port Chester last Thursday night to sing with American Idol finalist Jax in covers of “Empire State of Mind” and “Climb,” and finished center stage with her rendition of “Stars” by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. In a moving interlude, she explained why the lyrics mean so much to her and her family.
“He always went beyond,” the 17-year-year-old aspiring singer said of her stepfather—nicknamed “Superman” by fellow detectives—“so it just feels like he would know we’d expect him to be up with the stars now.”
In the Saturday interview with “Fox and Friends’” Ainsley Earhardt, Chaco said, “In situations like this, I always remember his laugh.” And she advised listeners: “Don’t take the moments you have with people for granted, because I wish he was still here.”
Also on stage with Chaco on Thursday night were “Saturday Night Live” alum Joe Piscopo and the New York Tenors, a singing group comprised of NYPD officers. As tenor Daniel Rodriguez sang “America the Beautiful,” artist Scott LoBaido speed-painted a portrait of the slain hero in a Superman shirt with the American flag as a backdrop.
“This is a special one just for him,” LoBaido said after donating the painting to the Lemm family.
Video montages of Lemm with family and friends provided a backdrop for performers.
The benefit was put together by the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation to help Chaco, her mother and Lemm’s widow, Christine DeGuisto, 42, and younger brother Ryan Lemm, 4, with financial burdens they face after Lemm’s death.
“They can use it however it can be used to help,” said John Hodge, the foundation’s chief operating officer.
Ticket sale figures were not immediately available.
The Suffolk County Police Department Third Precinct donated $2,000 to the benefit. The Rafael Ramos Foundation, created in the wake of the murders of NYPD officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, donated $1,000. The Liu family was in attendance.
The Harrison Police Department purchased 30 tickets, and many Harrison residents turned out for the event.
Outside the theatre, the strip of Westchester Avenue was closed off by Port Chester firetrucks and police vehicles. A large American flag was hung across the avenue in remembrance.
The Stephen Siller Foundation is a nonprofit organization that helps the families of those who lose a loved one in the service of the NYPD and NYFD, and was created in the memory of Stephen Siller, who was killed on 9/11.
