Mark Lamarr recalls the unusual life of singer, songwriter and actor Dean Reed. Sometimes dubbed the Red Elvis or the communist Johnny Cash, the teen idol-looking Reed was virtually unknown in his native America. But following moves to Chile, Argentina, Italy (where he starred in numerous spaghetti westerns) and ultimately East Germany, he became one of the Soviet bloc's biggest stars. Reed was found dead in an East Berlin lake in 1986, aged 47, most likely from a suicide.
Contributors include author Stefan Ernsting (Der Rote Elvis [The Red Elvis]), American defector Victor Grossman (who translated for Reed) and biographer Chuck Laszewski. Plus archive interviews with Dean Reed and Phil Everly.