Shuki Levy (Hebrew: שוקי לוי; born June 3, 1947) is an Israeli-American music composer and television producer. Levy created soundtrack compositions for children's television programs of the 1980s, such as The Real Ghostbusters, 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 worked on the Power Rangers franchise, Digimon: Digital Monsters, Masked Rider, VR Troopers, and Big Bad Beetleborgs. He has also written and directed episodes for some these television shows, and directed a few films, such as Perfect Victims (1988) and Blind Vision (1991). He was also part of the musical duo Shuky & Aviva (alternatively Shuki & Aviva), with his partner Aviva Paz.
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Early life
Levy was born in Jaffa, British Mandate of Palestine. His father was an Ashkenazi Jew originally from Russia, and his mother of Sephardi Jewish origin.
His career began as a singer and music performer, playing in various clubs around Tel Aviv. He also appeared in the musical Hair.
Career
Shuky & Aviva
During the 1970s, Levy performed in France and Germany with Aviva Paz as the duo "Shuki & Aviva" or "Shuky and Aviva". Paz was also born in the British Mandate of Palestine, and four years older than him. Together they scored a hit single throughout Europe called "Signorina - Concertina" which sold two million copies. He also appeared with her on several other releases and music videos. In 1975, Shuki & Aviva sung "You and Me and Two Dreams", which competed as one of the possible German entries during the preliminary rounds of the 1975 Eurovision Song Contest. Levy later 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 friends and 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 animated shows and Japanese adaptions, such as Digimon, X-Men: The Animated Series, Spider-Man: The Animated Series, and Power Rangers. The company was sold to The Walt Disney Company by the end of 2001.
During the 1980s and 1990s, he composed television music; according to BMI's music publishing database, he has written a combined total of 4,210 themes, background scores and songs. In a 1998 investigation by The Hollywood Reporter, it was alleged 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.
Post-Saban Entertainment projects
The first project Levy worked on following the dissolution of Saban Entertainment was Itty Bitty HeartBeats, a 2003 animated children's DVD. In 2009, he also directed and composed music for the live action film Aussie and Ted's Great Adventure. The film was co-written with his wife Tori Avey, and featured his daughter Jordan in one of the roles.
Personal life
In 1977, Levy was married to Miss USA 1970 and actress Deborah Shelton (Dallas), with whom he has a daughter. Shelton went on to appear in the 1982 horror film Blood Tide, which was one of the first film and television projects Levy composed for. He was also in a relationship with television actress Sarah Brown (General Hospital), with whom he has a second daughter. When they started dating in 1994, Brown was only 19 years old and 27 years younger than Levy. At that point, he was also secretly engaged to another actress named Shell Danielson, and still married to Shelton. Levy remained in a secret relationship with Danielson even after Brown moved in with him, and also remained married to Shelton until early 2000, nearly two years after Brown's daughter was born. Brown and Levy split in 2000, with Brown accusing him of spying on her over the next few years. Levy is currently married to food blogger Tori Avey, whom he met in the early 2000s. Levy has owned properties in both California and Miami.
Musical compositions
Shuki Levy is credited as a composer on the following works:
Musicals
2007. Imagine This
TV series
1975. Time Bokan
1975. Steel Jeeg
1980. Heathcliff
1981. Ulysses 31
1981. Spider-Woman (French and Italian dubs)
1982. The Mysterious Cities of Gold
1982. X-Bomber (French dub)
1982. Urusei Yatsura (Italian dub)
1983. Saturday Supercade
1983. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
1983. The Littles
1983. Inspector Gadget
1983. Mister T
1984. Photon
1984. The Get Along Gang
1984. Kidd Video
1984. Pole Position
1984. Going Bananas
1985. It's Punky Brewster
1985. Kissyfur
1985. Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors
1985. Rainbow Brite
1985. She-Ra: Princess of Power
1985. M.A.S.K.
1986. Popples
1986. Rambo: The Force of Freedom
TV
1985. He-Man & She-Ra: A Christmas Special
1987. Bay Coven
1992. Revenge on the Highway
1993. Under Investigation
1994. Guns of Honor
1994. Honor Thy Father and Mother: The True Story of the Menendez Murders
1994. Blindfold: Acts of Obsession
1997. Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might (Funimation/Ocean Studios/Saban dub which edited the original film into three television episodes)
2000. Final Ascent
Videos
1980. Goldwing
1985. Punky Brewster: More For Your Punky
1986. My Favorite Fairy Tales
1989. Little Golden Book Land
1991. Sugar & Spice: Snow White
1991. Sugar & Spice: Heidi
1991. Sugar & Spice: Cinderella
1991. Sugar & Spice: Alice in Wonderland
1991. Sugar & Spice: The Wizard of Oz
2003. Itty Bitty Heartbeats
Films
1981. Dawn of the Mummy
1982. Blood Tide
1983. Les Dalton En Cavale
1984. The Secret of the Selenites
1984. Fatal Games
1985. Here Come the Littles
1985. The Secret of the Sword
1985. Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer
1986. Heathcliff: The Movie
1987. Barbie and the Sensations: Rockin' Back to Earth
1987. Barbie and the Rockers: Out of This World
1988. Perfect Victims
1989. Trapper Country War
1992. Prey of the Chameleon
1992. Blind Vision
1992. Round Trip to Heaven
1995. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie
1996. Susie Q
1998. Rusty: A Dog's Tale
2000. Digimon: The Movie
Screenwriting credits
Television
Wolf Rock TV (1984)
Kidd Video (1985)
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (1993–1996)
Masked Rider (1995)
Big Bad Beetleborgs (1996)
Power Rangers Zeo (1996)
Power Rangers Turbo (1997)
Film
Perfect Victims (1988)
Blind Vision (1992)
Round Trip to Heaven (1992)
Someone to Die For (1995)
Susie Q (1996)
Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie (1997)
Exception to the Rule (1997)
Rusty: A Dog's Tale (1998)
Aussie and Ted's Great Adventure (2009)
Director
Television
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (1993–1995)
VR Troopers (1994)
Masked Rider (1995)
Big Bad Beetleborgs (1996)
Power Rangers Turbo (1997)
Film
Perfect Victims (1988)
Blind Vision (1992)
Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie (1997)
Rusty: A Dog's Tale (1998)
Aussie and Ted's Great Adventure (2009)
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)
"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)
"Viens que je t'embrasse"/"La separation" (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 fais que passer"/"C'est beaucoup mieux comme ça" (1977)
Albums with Haim Saban
Ulysse 31 (Bande Originale De La Série Télévisée) (1981)
Inspector Gadget (Original Soundtrack of the TV Series) (1983)
Inspector Gadget - The Music (1986)
Dragon Ball Z: Original USA Television Soundtrack (1997)
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: Selections from the Original TV Series Soundtrack (2012)
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: Music from the Television Series (2015)