Arena

Episode Synopsis

Rockstar Dean Read was the biggest rock star the communist world had ever seen. Virtually unknown in his native America, the "Red Sinatra" was the first pop musician Mikhail Gorbachev ever heard. He sang My Yiddishe Momma to Yasser Arafat in Palestine, performed for Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua, and was awarded the Lenin Prize in recognition of the millions of records he had sold. In June 1986, he was found dead in a lake in East Berlin, the mysterious circumstances sparking rumours of a KGB plot, a CIA assassination, jealous husbands, or fascist revenge against his communist career. Reggie Nadelson, journalist and author, searches for the truth.