John Kay

<p>WORLD WAR 2. Tilsit East Prussia/ Germany.</p><p>Elsbeth Zimmermann is married to Fritz Krauledat. She is eight months pregnant when her husband is killed at the Russian front wearing a German uniform.</p><p> </p><p>Early 1945. On the run for the Soviet Army Elsbeth arrives as a desperate war refugee with her nine-month-old toddler Joachim in the bombed out State of Thuringia. That part of Germany will soon be occupied by the American Armed Forces. Although by a strange twist of fate she will end up in the Russian zone and she is stuck behind the Iron Curtain. Elsbeth is afraid for her son's future.</p><p> </p><p>In 1949 Elsbeth will flee again. This time from the communist zone in East Germany to a much freer West Germany. At night in a very dangerous move she and her five-year-old Joachim will crawl through a hole in the barbed wire.</p><p> </p><p>Joachim is suffering from a serious eye affliction but that doesn't stop him. He follows his dream in music and less than twenty years later he will score a huge hit with Born To Be Wild introducing a new rage with his band Steppenwolf: hard metal rock. John Kay as he is called by then will become the most distinct rock singer ever born in Germany.</p><p> </p><p>This extremely atypical book gives an in-depth description of John Kay's background. It is the story of a young man who didn't speak any English when he emigrated to Canada in 1958. For all immigrants who arrive completely orphaned in a foreign country his passion is an example of what you can achieve with boldness and perseverance ... and from time to time a bit of luck.</p><p> </p><p>Theo De Vos (��Duffel Belgium 1955) was an officer in the Belgian Air Force. History has always been one of his great passions. Since he was fourteen he has also been a huge hard rock fan especially of the band Steppenwolf. In this book he magically weaves those two completely different themes.</p>