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Shuki Levy
Yehoshu'a "Shuki" Levy (Hebrew: שוקי לוי יהושע; born June 3, 1947) is an Israeli-American music composer and television writer, director, and executive producer. With his time at Saban, he composed the musical score for the original 1996-1998 Ocean dub of Dragon Ball Z.
Biography[]
Born in Mandatory Palestine, Levy began his career as a singer and music performer in various clubs around Tel Aviv. He also appeared in the musical Hair. During the 1970s, Levy performed in France for a duet known as "Shuki & Aviva". Together with his partner Aviva Paz he scored a hit single throughout Europe called "Signorina - Concertina" which sold two million copies. Levy and then-partner Haim Saban founded Saban Entertainment, a production company responsible for 1990s-era series Masked Rider, VR Troopers, Big Bad Beetleborgs, and the Power Rangers franchise. The company was sold to The Walt Disney Company by the end of the decade.
Shuki Levy on a piano
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, Dragon Quest, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Eagle Riders (the third Western adaptation of Science Ninja Team Gatchaman), She-Ra, Choujinki Metalder (French dub), and Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors. In the 1990s, he became known chiefly for his work on the Power Rangers franchise, 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 movies, such as "Eye of Doom" (1987), "Perfect Victims" (1988), and "Blind Vision" (1991).
Levy is noted for his prolific career in composing music; he has a total of 14 Gold- and Platinum-certified records and has composed theme tunes for more than 130 TV shows, which makes him the world-record holder in this regard. Levy was married to television actress Deborah Shelton, and was also previously engaged to television actress Sarah Brown. He has a son and two daughters from these relationships.
Work on the show[]
He is accredited with composing the score for the 1996-1998 FUNimation/Saban produced Ocean Group dub of Dragon Ball Z. Kussa Mahchi (Haim Saban) and Ron Wasserman (of Power Rangers fame) also allegedly worked on the score. Contrary to popular belief, he did not compose any of the music for the 2000-2002 Ocean/Westwood dub, as Saban Entertainment were not involved in that dub or associated with the companies behind it. The music instead used was a mix of recycled Mega-Man/Monster Rancher music and original music by Vancouver musician Tom Keenlyside.
Trivia[]
- His score appears in the Indian Hindi language dub of the first 53 Dragon Ball Z episodes, which were based on the Saban dub.
- His real first name means "Yah will rescue" in Hebrew.
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