Biography

Ricky Shayne

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Born from a Lebanese oilman and an Egyptian painting artist, he spent his childhood in Beirut, Lebanon. After moving to Paris at the age of 15 he studied music and singing there for two years, then moved to nearby Italy where he recorded his first singles and got his early acting parts. In 1966 he starred along Udo Jürgens in the German film "Siebzehn Jahr, blondes Haar" (Seventeen and blonde) which marked the beginning of season of musical hits. He was awarded in 1970 with the Golden Lion from Radio Luxemburg. Lastly appeared in 1975 in the episode "Kalkutta" of the popular German TV series "Derrick".
- IMDb mini biography by: Vice-4

Ricky Shayne enjoyed great success with his music in the 1970s. By his own account, he was a millionaire-with luxury cars and expensive jewelry. But those days passed, and Shayne later found himself in financial difficulties. "I thought the money would keep flowing. Today (2021) I'm broke and only get 151 euros in pension," he said in an interview with the Bild newspaper.
He moved to Paris when he was 15 years old, with his mother, and took music lessons for two years.
In 2022, Stephan Geene published the book Freiheit 71: Ricky Shayne, Musik und die Materialität des Nachkriegs, which looks at the singer in the context of Berlin's reconstruction.
In 1965, under the stage name "Ricky Shayne," he moved to Italy where he had his first hit with the single "Uno dei Mods" ("One of the Mods"), written by Gianni Meccia and Franco Migliacci. It was featured in the Italian-German 1966 musical film The Battle of the Mods (a.k.a. Crazy Baby) in which Shayne played the role of a "disaffected young man" and sang. The film also featured Udo Jürgens, Joachim Fuchsberger, Elga Andersen, and others, and Shayne moved to Germany for the duration of the production.
Shayne wanted his death to remain a secret. He said that if he wasn't there anymore, his partner should just say he was on vacation in Canada. He never talked about his illness either.

There are a lot of musicians of both sexes who don't even know the difference between a cucumber and a microphone
I do not belong to any nation. I belong to Mother Nature

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