Eddie Eckstein

Edwin Richard Eckstein was born on 29 November 1939 in Bezuidenhout Valley, a suburb of Johannesburg. He was schooled at Marist Brothers College in the suburb of Observatory.

After completing his matric he found employment at Barclays Bank. His evenings, however, were given to music: he worked as a band drummer and vocalist, and in the early 1960s he was a member of several South African bands, including the Al Willox Quartet, the Flippie van Vuuren Band and the Jimmie Rayson Combo.

While in Bulawayo, in what was then Rhodesia, Eckstein heard The Beatles and became convinced that the new beat music was the future. On returning to Johannesburg he met Paul Ditchfield, and in 1964 they formed The Bats. The group's first single, "All I Got", reached number one on both Springbok Radio and LM Radio. Further hits included "Who's That Girl" and "Groen en Goud (Vat hom Dawie)".

In 1972 Eckstein performed the Ditchfield composition "Oh God It's Beautiful" at the Tokyo Song Festival, where it reached the finals. In the late 1970s he briefly managed Pantha, a Johannesburg all-girl group whose lead singer was PJ Powers. The Bats broke up in 1981, and the members pursued their own careers until the band reformed in 2000.

Television began in South Africa in 1976, and Eckstein appeared on the SABC comedy show Biltong and Potroast, which pitched South African and British-born comedians against each other and ran for five years. In 1981 he played Mannie Bloom in the family comedy Oh George, opposite Clive Scott and Annabel Linder, and in the 1990s he was a celebrity host on the Telly Fun Quiz with quiz master Martin Bailie. He starred in a stage revival of Biltong and Potroast in 2010.

His theatre credits included I Love My Wife, Little Shop of Horrors, Pyjama Tops, Not Now Darling, Grin and Bear It and What About Luv?. His films included Follow That Rainbow (1979), Verkeerde Nommer (1982), Magic Is Alive, My Friends (1985), You Must Be Joking Too! (1987), Oh Schucks... It's Schuster! (1989) and The Seven of Daran: Battle of Pareo Rock (2008). In 2014 he joined Bobby Angel and Billy Forrest in The Two Cowboys, a show covering four decades of South African music, and in 2012 he was nominated for an Audience Choice award at the Comics' Choice awards.

Eckstein was married to Marie Eckstein. They had three children, John, Simone and Christopher. In their tribute after his death, his family called him their beloved Papou.

Eddie Eckstein died peacefully on the night of Saturday 14 November 2026, surrounded by close family members. He was 86, two weeks short of his 87th birthday. His death was announced on Facebook by his sons, Chris and John Eckstein. No cause of death was made public.

In his tribute, Chris described his father as the "biggest heart" of the family and wrote: "As a family, we kindly ask for privacy as we catch our breath, hold one another close and begin to come to terms with a world without our beloved Papou." He thanked those who had sent condolences, saying the support was a testament to his father's life.

With The Bats, Eckstein helped bring the beat music of the 1960s to South African audiences, and the group's records became fixtures of Springbok Radio and LM Radio. His ability to move between music, comedy, television and theatre made him one of the country's most versatile entertainers, and for viewers of early South African television he remained linked with Biltong and Potroast, Oh George and the Telly Fun Quiz.