Mike Sarne

Born Michael Scheur to a family of partial German ancestry, Mike Sarne forged an idiosyncratic place for himself in British rock and roll before the Beatles emerged. He appeared in several films at the start of the 1960s. His command of multiple languages proved useful both on screen and in the studio, where he supplied phonetic transcriptions that enabled John Leyton and Billy Fury to record German-language versions of their hits. A guitarist and vocalist as well, Sarne was placed under contract by Robert Stigwood, John Leyton’s manager. In 1962 he scored a novelty success with the duet “Tell Me What,” cut alongside Billie Davis, another Stigwood discovery. Additional singles followed—“Come Outside,” “Just for Kicks,” and “Code of Love.” Since the early 1960s he has devoted most of his energies to a career in film.