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Shuki Levy
Born June 3, 1947 (1947-06-03) (age 73)
Israel
Nationality Israeli American

Yehoshua "Shuki" Levy (Hebrew: שוקי לוי; born June 3, 1947) is an Israeli-American music composer and television 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, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, She-Ra: Princess of Power, and Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors. In the 1990s, he became known chiefly for his work on the Power Rangers franchise, Digimon: Digital Monsters, 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 films, such as Eye of Doom (1987), Perfect Victims (1988) and Blind Vision (1991). He was also part of a musical duo known as Shuky & Aviva (alternatively Shuki & Aviva) with his partner Aviva Paz.

Life and career

Beginnings

Levy was born in Mandatory Palestine in 1947. His father was an Ashkenazi Jew originally from Russia and his mother an Israeli of Sephardic origin.

His career began as a singer and music performer, playing in various clubs around Tel Aviv. He also appeared in the musical "Hair."

Shuky & Aviva

During the 1970s, Levy performed in France and Germany as a duo known as "Shuki & Aviva" or "Shuky and Aviva" as written on a lot of the duos song releases. 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.

Saban Entertainment

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." 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 3,928 themes, background scores and songs. In a 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.

On October 3, 2013, Shuki Levy started working on a TV show he created called Tribe Of The Wild which was originally set for a 2014 release, but got delayed to 2015 instead. Levy also signed a first-look production deal with Relativity Media to oversee worldwide distribution, finance and production for Levy's content in the children's and family space, Tribe Of The Wild was the first show under the deal.

Personal life

In 1977, Levy was married to Miss USA 1970 and actress Deborah Shelton (Dallas), with whom he has a daughter, Tamara (born 1981). He was also in a relationship with television actress Sarah Brown (General Hospital), with whom he has a second daughter, Jordan (born 1998).

Musical compositions

  • Shuki Levy is credited as a composer on the following works:

Musicals

  • 2007. Imagine This

TV series

TV

Videos

  • 2003. Itty Bitty Heartbeats
  • 1996. Spider-Man: Sins of the Fathers
  • 1991. Sugar & Spice: The Wizard of Oz
  • 1991. Sugar & Spice: Alice in Wonderland
  • 1991. Sugar & Spice: Cinderella
  • 1991. Sugar & Spice: Heidi
  • 1991. Sugar & Spice: Snow White
  • 1989. Little Golden Book Land
  • 1986. My Favorite Fairy Tales
  • 1985. Punky Brewster: More For Your Punky
  • 1980. Goldwing

Films

Screenwriting credits

Television

Film

Director

Television

Film

Discography

(As part of duo Shuky & Aviva)

Albums

  • Love Is Like (1974)
  • Shuky & Aviva (1976)
  • Shuky & Aviva Album N°2 (1977)
Compilation albums
  • The Very Best Of Shuki & Aviva (1974)
  • The Hits Collection (1990)
  • Best of Shuky & Aviva (2002)
  • Shuky & Aviva (4xCD) (2013)

Singles

  • "L' amour c' est la musique de la vie" (1972)
  • "Viens que je t'embrasse" / "La separation" (1972)
  • "Signorina Concertina" / "I'll Never Let You Go" (1972)
  • "Here Comes Summertime" (1972)
  • "When I'm Dreaming" (1973)
  • "Sixteen Brothers" / "On My Own" (1973)
  • "Listen to the Children" / "Ecoutez les enfants" (1973)
  • "Ca ne suffit pas" / "C'est trop tard" (1973)
  • "Did I ever say goodbye" / "Roller Coaster" (1974)
  • "Did I Hear You Say Good-Bye" (1974)
  • "Bye, Bye, a bientôt" / Des dimanches d'amour" (1975)
  • "Bye Bye Ciao My Love" (1975)
  • "Je t'aime un peu trop" (1975)
  • "Prends ma chemise" (1976)
  • "Fête d'amour" / Ils ne mont parlé que de toi" (1976)
  • "Comme Si" (The Air That I Breath) (1976)
  • "Hotel California" / "S'aimer comme on s'aime" (1977)
  • "Mais bien sur je t'aime" / "J'aime quelqu'un d'hereux" (1977)
  • "Je ne fait que passer" / "C'est beaucoup mieux comme ça" (1977)
  • "Fallait fallait pas" (1978)
in German
  • "Lern' Mit Den Augen Der Kinder Zu Sehen" (1973)
  • "Ein Platz Für Die Liebe" (1974)
  • "Wir Glauben An Das Leben" (1974)
  • "Du Und Ich Und Zwei Träume" (1975)
  • "Zum Glück Gibt Es Musik" (1975)
  • "Ich Liebe Dich Ja Viel Zu Sehr" (1976)
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