DONALD DEAN
DONALD DEAN grew up in such faraway places as: Oilmont Montana, Japan, Hawaii, and Junction City Kansas. He started performing at an early age throughout the Midwest achieving regional success. His band VELOCITY won the “The Best Band of Mid-America” award from radio station KJCK-FM. This was based on originals songs DONALD DEAN had written. Three songs received heavy “drive time” airplay.
In 1985 DONALD DEAN moved to Los Angeles, CA and formed his own band RHOMBUS. The band consisted of keyboard player JAY ROWE who at the time was producing Rock Videos for the likes of BON JOVI, POISON, KANSAS, ROBBIE ROBERTSON as well as producing feature films TRUTH OR DARE starring MADONNA and the movie JACK RUBY. JAY ROWE is now a Vice President for HBO.
Playing bass was RICHARD KLOTZ a Location Manager for TV and feature films such as THE DOORS, TERMANATOR 2, and CAGNEY AND LACEY among many others. The band had several Drummers. ROMBUS played a private Halloween concert in Hollywood in front of many celebrities including TOMMY LEE, HEATHER LOCKLEAR, and BOB SEGAR. DONALD DEAN was joined on stage with VINCE NEIL, JIMMY BAIN, GREGG GIURFFRIA, MICKY RAPHAEL, and PHIL SOUSSAN.
DONALD DEAN worked on the “Living on a Prayer” video featuring BON JOVI and can be seen briefly in it. DONALD DEAN also worked in two STRYPER video’s including the song “Free”.
During this time period the song RUNNING FROM THE LAW was recorded and the video was shot . RUNNING FROM THE LAW has received airplay on the “Mark and Brian Show” on KLOS 95.5 FM in Los Angeles, The OCTOPUS 95.9 FM KOCP in Santa Barbara, CA as well as Satellite radio stations.
RHOMBUS Rehearsed @ the studio where the hit TV series CAGNEY AND LACEY was filmed. RHOMBUS performed @ the Wrap Party after the series ended, in front of the cast and crew at the exclusive club THE STOCK EXCHANGE in LA. During this time period RHOMBUS also performed @ the Wrap Party for the miniseries MY FAVORITE SON in Hollywood, CA.
In 1989 NIGHTSHIFT was formed. This is the band DONALD DEAN wrote and performed many songs from his first solo album “NIGHTSHIFT”. His band performed @ all the major showcase concert venues Southern California including The ROXY , WHISKEY, FM STATION, VENTURA COUNTY FAIR, The highlight of all the concerts was “KEG RAGE 90”, held in Anaheim in which NIGHTSHIFT and friends promoted. 2,500 people paid to see NIGHTSHIFT headline this concert. Anaheim Stadium's parking lot was used for this concert.
In 1992 NIGHTSHIFT appeared twice on the local TV show LIVEWIRE.
THE DONALD DEAN BAND was formed in 1994 performing with some of the world’s greatest including PRESCOT NILES, BERTON AVERRE, & BRUCE GARY from THE KNACK, PHIL WOLFE & STET HOLLAND from W.A.S.P. as well as the best musicians in Southern California.
THE DONALD DEAN BAND performed every Saturday night at the historic SPORTSMAN’S LODGE in Studio City, CA from 2003 thru December 28th 2008 until it closed for renovation. THE DONALD DEAN BAND"s four hour set without breaks, throughout the band's five year residency has become Legendary.
Also from 2003 till 2016 THE DONALD DEAN BAND performed @The CASTING CALL /HOLIDAY INN (Burbank), DAYS INN (Glendale), CLUB SIXTY-25 (Tarzana), The MAUI SUGAR MILL (Tarzana), The SHORES (Oxnard), STEPHEN S. WISE TEMPLE dances (Bel -Air), The STOVEPIPER (Northridge),as well as many other clubs, private parties and corporate events.
In 2011 THE DONALD DEAN BAND Performed an hour long concert with MICK FLEETWOOD. One of the songs played that night was "Black Magic Woman". The video of that performance is on YouTube as well as DONALD DEAN'S website @ DONALDDEANBAND.COM.
THE DONALD DEAN BAND performed in front of over 450 people, each paying $85 @ THE SPORTSMAN’S LODGE on NEW YEARS EVE 2014/15
THE DONALD DEAN BAND is regarded as the best and most versatile bands in Southern California, performing many genres of music.
Starting in 2015 THE DONALD DEAN has focused on recording new material.
In July 2016 VELOCITY'S bass & Keyboard player MICHEAL T BROWN traveled from Kansas to record in Los Angeles, 11 new songs written by DONALD DEAN'S for his new CD, due for release in early 2017.
All songs from DONALD DEAN’S first solo album “NIGHTSHIFT” are available on I Tunes, as well as many online sites. A used copy of the CD DONALD DEAN "NIGHTSHIFT" has been on sale for over a $100 on EBay and is considered a classic in Europe and Japan. DONALD DEAN "NIGHTSHIFT" CD is one of the all-time best sellers in the Melodic Rock genre in CD BABY’S history.
In 2018 DONALD DEAN Co-founded The Worlds Greatest Deep Purple Tribute CHILD IN TIME. Shortly before and possibly during the 2020 CORVID 19 outbreak CHILD IN TIME headlined THE WHISKY A GOGO in Hollywood Ca.