Bill Ramsey delivered the hits for post-war Germany. “Mimi never goes to bed without a thriller” or “Pigalle” made the German-American a superstar. His heart beat for jazz.
Even in old age, Bill Ramsey was still on stage. That his strength had weakened a little while walking – it doesn’t matter. Together with his wife Petra, he just thought about which walking stick he should use for the concert. The exhausting thing about touring is just the preparations and the trips. “But on stage, I don’t get tired that quickly,” said the musician, whose songs once often landed in the best lists of hits – his great love was always jazz. Now the musician has died in Hamburg at the age of 90.
His “Wumba-Tumba Chocolate Ice Cream Seller”, the “Sugar Doll” (from the belly dance troupe), “Pigalle (The Big Mousetrap)”, “Souvenirs” or “Mimi never goes to bed without a crime thriller” were catchy tunes. The American hit a nerve with the Germans when he opted for the comic. Because once he was faced with the question that the producer of his first record asked him in 1958: “Do you want to do something funny or rock’n’roll?” At that time, the young man from the States was already performing as a jazz singer in Frankfurt Army clubs.
Ramsey wanted to get away from the “Schlagerclown” image
He has never regretted the comedic songs, as he himself repeatedly said, “on the contrary”. Even if a few years later he wanted to get away from the “hit clown”. “I wanted to expand my image. I was really annoyed that it was partly interpreted as if I was ashamed of these songs.” Especially since jazz existed long before the hit in his life, as it never got tired of emphasizing again and again.
He could get really outraged if he was accused of cultivating his national accent: “It annoys me immensely when people say that. I would like to speak perfect German, but I just can’t,” said the musician, who has been in the middle the 1980s had German citizenship, times the “star”.
His great love and passion was jazz. Ramsey, who was born in the US state of Ohio, had already earned his pocket money as a jazz singer as a student, and as a sociology and economics student at Yale University in New Haven, he remained loyal to the genre. In 1951 he came to the US Air Force and in the following summer to Germany as GI – he met his very first German friends in the Frankfurt “Jazzkeller”.
In Frankfurt, Ramsey, who initially continued his studies in the US after leaving the Army, but returned to Germany, met colleagues like Paul Kuhn and James Last. And his friend and producer Heinz Gietz, who brought him to Mimi and Mausefalle. “Those were great titles that made a lot of people happy,” said Ramsey, who also gave a concert on his 85th birthday in the St. Pauli Theater in his adopted home town of Hamburg.
His fans celebrated him as ever that evening when he began to sing – with that unmistakable, bluesy voice that had hardly lost its soul and energy over the decades. He closed his eyes with pleasure, bobbed his knee in time, felt the groove and conjured up the spirit of music from smoky jazz cellars in New Orleans or Chicago.
Ramsey was a cult in the 1960s
His hits and his comedic talent brought the singer, who later gave himself the title “hit veteran”, numerous film appearances, especially in the 1960s – from hit films to the Karl May adventure “Old Shatterhand”. Around 30 films and even more albums, plus numerous TV programs – Ramsey was a born entertainer and hardworking. As a moderator, he presented his “Swingtime” (hr2) for Hessischer Rundfunk even at an advanced age. It wasn’t until the beginning of March 2019, shortly before his 88th birthday, that he drew a line after more than three decades.
He went on concert tours again and again, his manager was conveniently his fourth wife Petra. Ramsey was also an “archeology freak”, as he called himself. He was enthusiastic about art history – they would have been alternatives to a music career for him, he said. His hair had been white for a long time, but his voice remained powerful. Jazz was still part of his life every day – as it was before the “funny” came.
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