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‘There is no such singer’: Dean Reed, Communism and Rock ‘n’ Roll
MILES ELLINGHAM charts journey from true-blue crooner and cowboy actor to the man would become known as 'Red Elvis' for his radical Marxism before defecting to the Soviet Bloc

DEAN REED was the epitome of the all-American boy; born in Denver 1938, he was athletic, attractive, a frontiersman, boy scout as a child, track star and musician as a teen. He showed all the promise of a Jimmy Stewart, Van Heflin or John Wayne, and sure enough, at 20, Reed dropped out of college in pursuit of Hollywood stardom.

His big break came that same year in 1958, when he signed a contract with Capitol Records, and even got a slot on TV’s Bachelor Father.

Proceeding the Capitol contract, Reed’s music saw initial popularity in the United States, but in the wake of Elvis, and the dawn of The British Invasion, singles like The Search — a Vegas-style toe-tapper about the quest for love — were viewed as quintessentially non-radical during a time in which the radical and the rebellious formed the rock-and-roll datum.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
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