Billy Dean

We enjoy booking Billy Dean at corporate and special events in three different formats:

• Acoustic - light
• Billy Dean with Strings - a touch of elegance
• Billy Dean and Band - no holds barred

The calendar showed that it was time for another Billy Dean album. The gearing up process began, the song publishers got the word to find something for him. Producers were being considered. Studio time was booked. And then Billy Dean made a decision.

"Wait," he said.

"I didn't want to do another album in the traditional form, where you sit in song meetings and listen to songs that every other artist was listening to," Billy recalls. "I realized that my favorite records of my career were the ones I had written not because I'm a better songwriter than anyone out there, but because I had an emotional attachment to those songs. They were my words, and I felt I needed to get that back into my music. To write. That's what was missing. What was essential. What was my passion."

Dean disappeared from public view for a while to rediscover the songwriter in himself The result: Real Man, a heartfelt, album that reveals the evolution, both musically and personally, of Billy Dean. "My dad told me, 'I don't care what you grow up to be, as long as you grow up to be a real man. One day you'll be old enough to know what that is.' That's been an issue I've dealt with for years," says Dean. He addresses it directly in the title song of the album, which anchors the whole album. Co-produced by the singer with former Bread front man David Gates, Real Man's songs all came from Dean himself. He explored the hows and whys of his deepest feelings, his spirituality, his relationships.

Dean, who grew up in Florida, started playing guitar with his father's band, The Country Rocks, when he was only eight years old. He continued playing and singing through his teens and built up his own following, separate from his father's band. Dean followed his dad's advice and worked on his singing, as well as his song writing. Soon he had a following in Florida, separate from his father's band. At 19 he made his first appearance in Nashville, as a finalist in the national Wrangler Star Search competition, held at the Grand Ole Opry. A few years later Dean moved to Nashville, getting work as a jingle singer and backup vocalist. More importantly, he made his mark as a writer. The Oak Ridge Boys, Les Taylor and Shelley West all cut Billy Dean songs. Randy Travis recorded "Somewhere In My Broken Heart," a song Dean co-wrote with Richard Leigh, at the same time that Dean got a record deal. His first single, "Only Here For a Little While" shot up to #2 on the country singles chart. Since Travis had never released his cut of "Somewhere In My Broken Heart," Dean made it his second single. It reached #1.

"Somewhere In My Broken Heart" won Song of the Year honors at the Academy of Country Music Awards in 1992. That same year, Dean won the ACM's Top New Male Vocalist award and received a Grammy nomination in the Best Male Country Performance category.

That was also the song that brought Dean and David Gates together for the first time, in 1992. Impressed with the song, Gates called Dean to co-write with him. They came up with three songs for Gates's solo album. A friendship formed instantly and the two stayed in touch. Dean continued to rack up country hits, including "Billy the Kid," "We Just Disagree" and "It's What I Do," though he put songwriting on the back burner while he concentrated on touring and all that goes with it.

When Dean turned his attention toward writing again for this album, he naturally turned to Gates as a co-writer. They wrote four songs together. In the studio, Gates emphasized the emotional aspects of Dean's work. Gates further brought out the emotions of certain songs by writing and arranging the strings, a task he performed as a member of Bread.

With Real Man Billy Dean has found his way. "I approached this -album as if it were the last album I would ever make. I wanted to deliver the best that I can do, and I feel I did that here. No matter what happens with it commercially, I know I can live with this album. I'm proud of this album."

Billy Dean is available to perform at your next corporate or special event - contact us today to get started!

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