Facts: - death place: los angeles , california - years active: mid-1960s -- late-1980s - notable works: '' dream street '' 61st academy awards opening number - birth name: steve thomas michaels - death date: 26 january 1993 - birth date: 17 january 1945 - name: steve merritt - nationality: american - birth place: san jose , california , u.s. - occupation: choreographer dancer Based on these bullet points, write a short biography describing the life of steve merritt .
The answer to this question is:
steve merritt -lrb- january 17 , 1945 -- january 26 , 1993 -rrb- was an american dancer and choreographer .together with nancy and ronnie horowitz and mark donnelly , merritt created the musical '' dream street '' , which played in las vegas from 1983 to 1987 .merritt and donnelly also conceived the broadway-style format for the chippendales show .in 1989 merritt choreographed the opening number of the 61st academy awards presentation .steve thomas merritt was born steve thomas michaels in san jose , california , in 1945 .he moved to los angeles in the mid-1960s and studied dance under david winter while working as a dancer on a local tv show called '' the farmer john dance show '' .he created the solid gold dancers and performed on casey kasem 's weekly '' top forty countdown '' television show .merritt died of aids in 1993 at age 48 .