Hits like “Sugar Doll”, “Pigalle” and of course “Mimi never goes to bed without a crime thriller” will remain with him: Last Friday – as has now become known – pop singer Bill Ramsey died at the age of 90. His last concert took place in July 2018, shortly afterwards he made his Parkinson’s disease public.
Ramsey was born on April 17th, 1931 in Cincinnati, Ohio. The mother was a teacher, the father did public relations work for a US corporation. This also led to little Bill advertising shortening at the age of eight. The turmoil of the post-war period brought him to Germany as a young GI in 1952. There, Ramsey was able to devote himself entirely to music as the chief producer of the US military broadcaster AFN. In 1954 he met Heinz Gietz, a leading German producer, in the Frankfurt Jazzkeller. At the time, nobody seemed to understand that the Ramsey hits, which many perceived as silly, were deliberately designed in a cabaret-like manner. The “Pigalle” referred to the German bowling clubs that traveled to Paris. “Souvenirs” satirized the German vacationers who returned from Italy with bags full of souvenirs.
As suddenly as the hit hit was there, it ebbed away so quickly. Just a few years after his hits, Ramsey formulated the wish “finally to be accepted without grimaces”. From the mid-1960s on, he recorded almost exclusively English jazz and blues records. With his old hits, Ramsey remained a permanent guest on TV. He also moderated shows himself, such as “These were hits” for ZDF or the ARD “Talentschuppen”. In 1984 Ramsey took on German citizenship.
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