Famous People I’ve Met. Perhaps the most famous person I have met is Dan Quayle, former vice president under George Bush. At least he is probably the one that most of you would recognize. There was another that I would suspect that 99% of you have never heard of. I met him when I was a freshman at Wheat Ridge High School. It seemed that we had a lot in common. He was a skinny, pimply-faced kid with a flat top and I was a homely kid with coke-bottle thick glasses and unruly hair. We were both on the freshman basketball team and neither of us got to do much more than suit up. The most common thread was that we both loved music. Both of us had cheap guitars but we could play relatively well. We were also horrible singers. The major difference was that I knew it and seldom did I allow anyone to hear my attempts. In contrast, he played and sang at assemblies and other school functions and, as his voice shifted back and forth between an uncomfortable tenor and a screechy soprano, the audience did their best to keep their fingers out of their ears. I guess what he lacked in musical talent, he made up with guts.
Fast-Forward Three Years. I gradually came to the conclusion that, although I loved music, I could never make a decent living as a performer. I graduated from college with a degree in Chemistry. He dropped out of college and started hitchhiking to Hollywood in search of a musical career. On the way, Don and Phil Everly (The Everly Brothers) drove past him and, because he was carrying a guitar, decided to give him a ride. He rode all the way with them and, when he got there they introduced him to their agent. You can imagine my surprise when I woke up one morning in the late 50’s there he was on the radio singing his new hit, “Our Summer Romance.” Gone was the screechy soprano and the tenor was amazingly smooth. I don’t know what happened to him out there but it appeared that someone had managed to teach him to sing. I heard he was on “American Bandstand” and several local disk jockeys predicted he would become a huge success. Despite all those predictions of success, it appeared that he just dropped out of sight. We both in our early 20’s and I was not to hear of him again until we were almost 50.
Fast Forward 25 Years. I had married my third wife and was struggling to get my financial service business started when I heard he was back in Denver to promote a film: Portrait of An American Rebel. He had been interviewed on a local radio station and almost provoked the host into a fist fight. It was at that time I learned that he had spent the past 25 years in South America, East Germany, and the Soviet Union. He was a superstar by almost any definition, having played to huge sold out crowds where ever he went, selling out huge auditoriums and soccer stadiums. He had also starred in several westerns in Italy. (Remember Spaghetti Westerns)? He also had recently married his third wife.
While he was in Denver, one of our high school classmates arranged for us to spend an evening with him. We all got together while he played his guitar and sang several songs. As you might expect, he exuded charisma. The dorky kid was replaced by a handsome, self confident man but there was an air of sadness about him that was evident in some of our more private conversations. One thing he said has stood out in my mind to this very day. “It is so hard for me to think about growing old in a country that is not my own.” Although he never quite brought himself to say it, it was obvious to me that he wanted to return. But it wasn’t that easy. Although he had been extremely popular in communist countries, that popularity did not carry the financial rewards that it does in this country. He didn’t have the wealth to survive without earning income and he probably didn’t have the talent to compete as an entertainer in the US. He also had a reputation as an Anti-American Marxist. That was the last time I saw him. His name was Dean Reed.
Fast Forward Six Months. They found his body in a lake not far from his East Berlin home. An autopsy showed he had an undigested sleeping pill in his stomach. His death was ruled an accident but many East Germans theorized that it was suicide or the CIA. Americans thought it was probably the KGB. It remains a mystery. One way or another he died just past the peak of his popularity. As the popularity of Marxism declined in the Eastern Bloc countries, so did Dean’s popularity. To many Americans he was a traitor but to me he was just a dumb kid who would do anything for a musical career.
Fast Forward 24 years. The life and death of Dean Reed can teach us something. 1. You can accomplish a lot more than most people think you can. None of us who knew Dean in high school thought he had a chance of becoming an international superstar but we were obviously unaware of his tremendous drive that outweighed his lack of talent. 2. There are those along the way who can help you. Someone taught Dean to control his screechy voice, introduced him to the right people and gave him the opportunity he needed. 3. Be careful of those you bargain with to attain success. A famous American blues man, Robert Johnson was said to have sold his soul to the devil in exchange for the ability to play the blues. He became quite popular and recorded songs that are still played 70 years after he died from poisoning at age 26. It has been written that he crawled on all fours and barked like a dog before he died. Dean Reed made a deal with those who were enemies of his country. At the end he was not popular behind the iron curtain, nor welcome in the country he left.
You Have To See What I've been Writing About. This post would not be complete with out a link to his performance. If nothing else it might bring back memories. Most of his popular songs are recorded in German, Russian or Spanish. The following is in English. My lack of computer savvy keeps me from making a link but you can copy this one and paste it in your browser to see my old friend on stage. In addition to the performance I have included a second that is part of a documentary done on his life.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVgkePXZSk0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0WF-sLPzBw&feature=related
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