William McCreery Ramsey (17 April 1931 – 2 July 2021) was an American-German jazz and pop singer, journalist and actor famous for his German-language hits. He returned to Germany a year after he had served compulsory military service with the U.S. Air Force there. Active as a singer of jazz and pop already as a soldier, he made a career in different fields of musical entertainment. He sang and recorded German schlager, also German-language cover versions of English hits, jazz and swing. He appeared in films and television series, and ran popular series on radio and television as presenter.

Biography

William McCreery Ramsey, called Bill, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of a teacher and an advertising manager for Procter & Gamble. In his youth, he sang in a college dance band. He began to study sociology and business from 1949 to 1951 at Yale University in New Haven and sang jazz, swing and blues in the evenings. His greatest influences were Count Basie, Nat King Cole, Duke Ellington and Louis Jordan. Due to the Korean War, compulsory military service was again introduced in the US and Ramsey served with the U.S. Air Force in Germany. During this time period, he appeared in clubs like the Jazzkeller Frankfurt in Frankfurt. He was discovered by an employee of the American Forces Network (AFN), and hired to entertain troops. There Ramsey advanced to executive producer and though still in service, spent more time on appearances at festivals. As of 1953, he appeared with, among others, band leaders Ernst Mosch, Paul Kuhn, Kurt Edelhagen and James Last. The jazz pianist and music producer Heinz Gietz organized an appearance with Hessischer Rundfunk for Ramsey in 1955. There he did playback recordings for the musical film Liebe, Tanz und 1000 Schlager (Love, dance and 1000 hits) with Peter Alexander and Caterina Valente. Upon his discharge from the military in 1957, he continued his studies in the U.S. and returned to Frankfurt a year later. Gietz took Ramsey under contract in 1958 and in the same year his first single with Polydor was released. It was a small but respectable success and launched the style, with which ”the man with the black voice” would land hits in the future. The music was oriented on the Anglo American pop music hits of that period. Among Ramsey's hits published in the 1950s and 1960s were German-language cover versions of Hank Ballard, The Beatles, Fats Domino, Ivory Joe Hunter, Roger Miller, Elvis Presley, Jimmie Rodgers, Andy Williams, Sheb Wooley and others. In addition, he performed numerous originals, which were composed almost exclusively by Gietz. The ironic lyrics of Kurt Feltz and Hans Bradtke often commented on current events. Ramsey and Gietz signed with Columbia label EMI Group in 1962, where they would continue their success. As beat music changed the market in the 1960s, Ramsey was a regular on the German charts. In the second half of the 1960s Ramsey took up predominantly English-language songs and dedicated himself again to jazz and blues. In this musically varied decade he presented operettas, musical and beat songs, as well as an LP with children's songs. Ramsey switched labels to Gietz's record company Cornet in 1966, and later in the same year to Polydor. He appeared on different labels in the 1970s. Ramsey appeared regularly as a pop and jazz singer, mostly in duets with the guitarist Juraj Galan, with whom he released several albums. The duo's LP Live in the House of Commons won the German record critics prize. From the late 1980s, Ramsey presented Swingtime each Friday on Hessischer Rundfunk until 2019. In 2008 and 2009 he went on tour with Max Greger and Hugo Strasser as Swing legends. He was a lecturer for many years at Hamburg University for Music and Performing Arts. He had a lead speaking role in the audio play for children Der kleine Tag in 1999.

Television

His popularity led to numerous appearances in film and television, where he appeared as a singer and in comedy roles. Ramsey had numerous television appearances, acted in 28 films and toured through Europe, the US, and North Africa. He presented the television shows Hits for Schlappohren (1971) and Talentschuppen (Talent shed) (1974 to 1980), among others.

Personal

Ramsey lived for 20 years in Zürich, later in Wiesbaden, and from 1991 onward with his fourth wife Petra in Hamburg. He became a German citizen on 17 October 1984. His wife, a physician, also worked as his manager. Ramsey died at his home in Hamburg at the age of 90 on 2 July 2021.

Discography (selection)

Ramsey released 50 singles as well as 30 LPs and CDs, including:

Singles

EPs

LPs

CDs

Films

Ramsey appeared in 28 feature films, including:

Awards