Shuki Levy

Shuki Levy
Born (1947-06-03) June 3, 1947
Israel
Nationality American / Israeli

Shuki Levy (Hebrew: שוקי לוי‎‎; born June 3, 1947) is an Israeli-American music composer, television writer, director, and executive producer. Levy's best known work is soundtrack compositions for children's television programs of the 1980s, such as Inspector Gadget, The Mysterious Cities of Gold, M.A.S.K., Dinosaucers, Dragon Quest, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Eagle Riders (the third Western adaptation of Science Ninja Team Gatchaman), She-Ra, and Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors. In the 1990s, he became known chiefly for his work on the Power Rangers franchise, Masked Rider, VR Troopers, and Big Bad Beetleborgs. He has also written and directed numerous episodes for some these television shows, and directed a few movies, such as "Eye of Doom" (1987), "Perfect Victims" (1988), and "Blind Vision" (1991).

Biography

Levy was born in Mandatory Palestine in 1947. His father was an Ashkenazi Jew originally from Russia, while his mother was an Israeli who belonged to the Sephardic Jewish community based in the Mediterranean and Middle East regions.[1]

His career began as a singer and music performer, playing in various clubs around Tel Aviv. He also appeared in the musical Hair. During the 1970s, Levy performed in France and Germany for a duet known as "Shuki & Aviva". Together with his partner Aviva Paz he scored a hit single throughout Europe called "Signorina - Concertina" which sold two million copies. Levy composed Halayla, the Israeli entry to the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest.

While living in Paris, he met businessman and musician Haim Saban, with the two becoming close friends and frequent collaborators. In an interview, Levy recalled “Haim said, ‘We’ll be co-composer. You do the composing, I’ll do the deals.’ I figured, ‘Great. Brothers.’ That was the last business conversation we had for many years. We were partners. We never had a written agreement. It was all verbal.”[2] They eventually moved to Los Angeles and founded Saban Entertainment, a production company responsible for numerous animated shows and Japanese adaptions, such as Digimon, X-Men, Spider-Man and Power Rangers. The company was sold to The Walt Disney Company by the end of 2001.

During the 1980s and 1990s, he was noted for composing a large volume of television music; according to BMI's music publishing database, he has written a combined total of 3,927 themes, background scores and songs.[3] In an 1998 investigation by The Hollywood Reporter, it was revealed that many of these compositions were ghostwritten by other composers, in order for Levy and Haim Saban to gain control of all publishing rights and music royalty revenue.[4]

As of October 3, 2013 Levy is currently working on a new show he created called Tribe Of The Wild set for a 2014 release, Levy also signed a first-look production deal with Relativity TV to oversee worldwide distribution, finance and production for Levy’s content in the children’s and family space, Tribe Of The Wild will be the first show under the deal.[5]

Personal life

Levy was married to television actress Deborah Shelton (Dallas) and was also previously engaged to television actress Sarah Brown (General Hospital). He has a son and two daughters from these relationships.

Musical compositions

Musicals

TV series

TV

Videos

Movies

References

  1. ↑ http://www.sanluisobispo.com/living/article39121674.html
  2. ↑ http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/05/10/the-influencer
  3. ↑ http://repertoire.bmi.com/writer.asp?blnWriter=True&blnPublisher=True&blnArtist=True&page=1&fromrow=1&torow=25&querytype=WriterID&keyid=201135&keyname=LEVY+SHUKI+Y&CAE=65485749&Affiliation=BMI&term=
  4. ↑ Composers say they're paupers in royalty game - The Hollywood Reporter - via groups.google.com
  5. ↑ http://shukilevy.com/variety-shuki-levy-inks-first-look-deal-with-relativity-tv/#prettyPhoto
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