"Enthusiasm is excitement with inspiration, motivation and a pinch of creativity." This is Paul Dean!
Paul Dean is a connoisseur of music. Playing air guitar, singing "boom-chicka-boom-chicka-boom", showing us his Luther Perkins moves (Luther was the guitarist for Johnny Cash) and talking about music, Dean's face lights up and you can tell he is in his zone! Born in Canada in 1946 he picked up his first guitar at the age of 14. Inspired by his musical influences Paul learned to play. Fast forward fifty years - Paul Dean is still groovin! He says "I've been there for the whole Rock 'n' Roll ride".
Dean has been the lead guitarist for the band Loverboy since it's inception in 1979. In 1982 he won the "Composer of the Year" Juno award along with Mike Reno for writing "Turn Me Loose" from Loverboy's self-titled 1980 debut album. With numereous Loverboy albums and three solo albums under his belt Paul Dean is still cranking!
Recently Loverboy performed at the Hudson Gardens in Littleton, CO and I had the privilege of sitting down with him after the show - along with the Loverboy Fan Club - for an interview. The goal; to give Paul Dean fans an insight into the man - the guitarist - the Loverboy. In our quest we discovered his favorite color is red. His favorite color M&M is yellow and his favorite flavor ice cream (when he allows himself to have some) is vanilla! I think fans will be surprised to learn that Paul Dean - that hard playing guitarist - loves Pop Music. "There is a Pop God" he says when referring to Hannah Montana and the new Simple Plan CD (which he loves). "I know fans will probably think I'm crazy but I love Pop!"
Paul is such an easy going man with some wonderful stories to tell. I can't tell you how many times we got off track and how it really didn't matter. I realized early on, it wasn't so much what he said as to the way he said it. "I'm excited to play. I can't wait to play." he says. The childlike enthusiasm, the light in his eyes, the laughter generated showed me a man who LOVES what he does. A man who is still motivated after all these years to give 110% of himself in all his endeavors.