Search - Dean Reed :: Very Strange Story of Dean Reed the Red Elvis

The Red Elvis: An incredible & fascinating story

Ronald Van Scherpenzeel | Madrid, Spain | 09/09/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Here we have a born and raised Western farmer boy from Colorado who wants

to be a rock & roll star like so many others in the late 50's. He goes

to Hollywood and records between 1959 and 1961 some 17 songs none of

which becomes a hit except for one that makes it # 96 on the Hot 100.

He goes back to the farm when suddenly he receives a phone call from

the record company (Capitol) telling him that one of the songs he

recorded (Our Summer Romance) hit the #1 spot in....Chile. Capitol

sends him to Santiago (Chile) to find out what's going on and when he

arrives by airplane for the first time, thousands of sreaming girls

are waiting for him as if he were the king of R&R instead of Elvis.

This overnight success makes him stay there and while he's learning

Spanish and recording songs sung in that language. he becomes so popu-

lar that indeed in all of South America he sells more than Elvis or

any other artist. However, at the same time, he strongly gets involved

politically: that means that after seeing the social problems in those

countries (only a few possess everything )he becomes a radical leftist.

After only a few years in Chile and Argentina, the authorities throw

him out of their countries. His next steps are Brasil, Mexico, Spain

and Italy where he becomes a third rated moviestar making typical

Spagetthi Westerns. Since he doesn't have any success he finally accepts

an invitation he received back in 1965 from a Russian communist

youth leader and tries his luck in Moscow. The communist party sees

it's opportunity: a North American radical leftist who plays Rock & Roll.

In those years Western music was forbidden especially Elvis Presley

and the Beatles. Now they could fulfill the needs of the youth for some

"other" kind of music. The Propaganda worked; Dean made covers of

Elvis, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, The Everly Brothers etc. and became

the most popular Western individual ever behind the Iron Curtain in all

socialist countries. His story is so exceptional that both Steven

Spielberg and Tom Hanks will make a movie about his story. This is just

a slight introduction: this man was jailed in in 7 different countries

including the USA but the Russian pression on president Carter was so

big that the Americans decided to free him. He married an East German

top movie star, made several anti-western propaganda films etc, etc.

It is believed that around 1986 he became "homesick" and wanted to go

back to the States. It seems that the East German secret police

wanted to avoid that and one evening he disappeared and was found

five days later in a lake nearby his home. He "officially" drowned himself.

This CD holds these 17 recordings from the late 50's and early 60's,

but the liner notes and the photographs included, make this CD and

above all the story behind this man a real 5 stars "jewel" The

incredible story is that this artist was absolutely unknown

both in the States and Western Europe until a few months back ACE

RECORDS included his only Hot 100 hit in the Teenager Crush Vol.5 CD.

called "The Search" and the liner notes about the song and the man

moved me to find out all about him. It was really worth "the search".

"