Jeremy Dean

"The Life of the Singer is the Song" - Jeremy Dean
Born and raised in the Bible Belt, Jeremy grew as son of an Oklahoma carpenter turned preacher. His mother, a concert pianist, singer and teacher, encouraged his love of music at a very early age, traveling with his twin and younger sisters to any and all churches, senior citizen centers, nursing homes and retirement centers in Western Oklahoma to share songs and laughter. This early musical foundation around family harmony led Jeremy and his sisters through their High School years into various competition opportunities, both on a state, national, and international level, where Jeremy achieved success in the male vocalist category as a representative of Accelerated Christian Education (A.C.E.) his senior year.

“I was never so happy to be second in my whole life,” Jeremy says with a laugh, “beats thinking you can sing and being told otherwise.”

During his teenage years, when he was old enough to obtain a radio broadcasters license, Jeremy was given his first radio job, both broadcasting and production, at a Christian and educational network of stations, originally based in Wheeler, Texas, now known as The Kingdom Keys Network, headquartered in Amarillo, Texas.

“Ricky Pfeil dumped a bucket of creativity into me when I got that first radio job,” says Jeremy, “that guy could get more stuff done in five minutes than anybody I know when it comes to production, but he taught me how to do things right, and I’m grateful always, and think of him often.”

Jeremy’s first live radio broadcast was a Saturday evening Southern Gospel music program. That would begin a radio career that would eventually last eleven years, including Country radio, where he did production and later hosted the morning show, “The Breakfast Club with Brooks & Dean,” for KECO FM, in Elk City, Oklahoma, as well as a syndicated radio program called “Solid Country,” which featured positive Country music and interviews, as well as the upcoming artists of Christian Country music.

It was at sixteen years of age when Jeremy bought his first guitar, a Takamine 12-string acoustic, which he purchased from living legend, Harley Russell, of The Sandhills Curiosity Shop, on the grand Route 66, in Erick, Oklahoma, home of the late great, Roger Miller. And, along with the help and kindness of a church member, Jeremy learned to play.

“I remember Mike Carnahan showing me my third chord, and it was then I realized I could now write a song,” states Jeremy, “and though my first song was very simple, I can still sing the chorus off the top of my head. But even way back then I knew that the life of the singer is the song, and I wanted to write.”

As a radio personality and solo performer during High School, Jeremy was later asked to join a local Country and Gospel band, Loretta Hall & The Crimson River Band, performing regionally in the Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana for fairs, festivals, and churches.

“Watermelon, strawberry and onion festivals on Saturdays, churches on Sunday, we never went hungry,” Jeremy smiles, “those were some of my highlight years right there! Mark Simpson, Beverly Baker, Dale Wilmoth, Cliff Campbell, Tommy Embery, and Loretta Hall…all of us working together over great music for the fun of it, for half a dozen years without the constant nags of ‘business’ and the irritation of egos…yes, those were great years!”

Jeremy’s Nashville journey began in 1997, when he was discovered in Oklahoma by Eddy Bolton, tenor singer for the legendary Southern Gospel farmily, The Speers. Eddy obtained Jeremy as the third member of a Southern Gospel trio that he traveled with until 1999, at which time Jeremy decided to take some time off the road to concentrate on songwriting and begin a new journey in audio production.

“Radio people just seem to get this ‘bug,’ I think,” says Jeremy, “once you’ve harnessed those creative juices, they are hard to keep bottled. You always go back to it.”

Since that time, Jeremy has worked with Dove award-winning and Grammy nominated producer, Joe Huffman, at The Rec Room. Having the opportunity to work under such expertise, Jeremy says, “Joe is incredible at everything he does, but he is exemplary as a friend, and has a true passion for what he does. He embodies greatness in the purest form, and I cherish that about him. I couldn’t have paid for the education he’s given me. I could only ever hope to repay him by paying it forward, because that’s what he’s done for me.”

Jeremy’s first love of songwriting was first rewarded in 2000, when Grammy nominated aritst, Barbara Fairchild, recorded a Gospel song Jeremy wrote shortly after High School, titled, “The Table Grace Prepared,” which Barbara included on her project, “Forever Friend.” In 2010, the song was re-released to radio, where it remained on the CGC Top 100 for eighteen months, topping out at #4 in October of 2010.

Jeremy is active in audio production. He also hosts Songwriter Stages for Nas