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Dubbed the "Red Elvis" by the Western press, American-born vocalist Dean Reed was the most popular singer in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. Millions of people bought his albums and saw his films. His concerts were sellouts and he was mobbed wherever he went, yet he was unknown in his native country.
Born Dean Cyril Reed on September 22, 1938, in Wheat Ridge, CO; died on June 12, 1986, in East Berlin, German Democratic Republic (GDR); son of Cyril Dale (a schoolteacher) and Ruth Anna (Hanson) Reed; married Patricia, 1964; marriage ended; married Wiebke, 1973; marriage ended; married Renate Blum (an actress), 1981; children: (first marriage) Ramona, (second marriage) Natasha. Education: Attended the University of Colorado.
Planned Comeback in United States
By the mid-1980 Western musical influences had begun to seep through the Iron Curtain, which eroded the fan base of the aging Reed. His music, always outdated by Western standards, now seemed old-fashioned in the East, too. Reed also began feeling homesick, confiding that he did not want to end his days in East Germany. To that end he began laying the groundwork for a return to the United States that would also revive his career. In 1985 Reed attended the Denver Film Festival, which premiered American Rebel, a documentary film about Reed by Will Roberts. While in Denver he reestablished connections with old friends, then toured the United States with the film. Reed planned to eventually tour colleges and universities where he expected to find audiences sympathetic to his political views.
In February 1986 Reed was interviewed by Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes; the interview was broadcast the following April. While Reed had hoped to use the interview as a springboard for his American comeback, his plan backfired when he compared President Ronald Reagan with Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. Reed appeared politically naive and a puppet of the Soviet regime, something he usually took pains to deny. The almost universally negative response to the interview was forwarded to Reed in May and June 1986, daunting his plans for a successful American homecoming.
The months following the 60 Minutes broadcast were stressful ones for Reed, and by early June of 1986 he began to show signs of emotional instability. His third marriage was coming apart and the official backing for his latest film, Bloody Heart, was not as enthusiastic as his earlier ventures had been. Following an argument with his wife on the evening of June 12, Reed set out in his car to the home of Gerrit List, producer of Bloody Heart. Reed never made it. Five days later his body was discovered in a lake near his home. While the official word was accidental death, within days rumors began flying that Reed had been murdered by the Stasi, the KGB, or the CIA. Some believed Reed had committed suicide, and while circumstantial evidence points to this, the true cause of death was never established.
Career Spanned the World
Reed was married three times, fathering daughters Ramona and Natasha by his first two wives: Patricia, whom he married in Hollywood in 1964, and Wiebke, whom he met in Leipzig in 1971 and married two years later. Reed’s third wife was the actress Renate Blum, whom he married in 1981. Blum and Reed had worked together in 1974 on the film Kit & Co. and were set to star in Bloody Heart. However, Reed died less than two weeks before production of the film was scheduled to begin.
During his career Reed recorded more than 30 singles and 14 albums and performed in more than 30 countries. He even gave a performance for Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat, singing "Ghost Riders in the Sky" and "Yiddishe Momma" for the rebel leader and his bodyguards. In 1978 Reed was awarded the Lenin Prize for Art and Literature, the Soviet Union’s highest civilian award.
Evaluations of Reed’s talent run the full gamut. Most Western critics who are aware of him, as well as younger Russian critics, tend to dismiss him as a second-or third-rate talent, a product of the Soviet regime. Certainly Reed compromised himself by relying too heavily on the formulaic in both his films and his music, and by mouthing the platitudes of the Soviet government. However the crowds drawn to his performances by his enormous popularity were undeniable; as his old friend Phil Everly was quoted as saying in Comrade Rockstar: "You can’t fool crowds that size, not anywhere."
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