Paris Delane

A voice that has an astonishing seven octave vocal range draws you in with messages from the heart and soul. The presence of Paris Delane on stage is so overwhelming it's an experience one does not forget." Born and raised on the south side of Chicago, in a neighborhood where statistically young black men don’t live past the age of sixteen, Paris Delane discovered himself in his music. His mother Lillian put a guitar in his hands at eight years old and by the time he was nine, he had begun to write his own songs. As Paris discovered life through a young boys eyes, he was influenced musically by his mother, Lillian, who sang with legendary gospel singer Albertina Walker. Lillian inspired her son with her two recordings, "Great is the Lord" and "I'm a child of the King." Paris was also influenced by legendary singers and musicians such as Miles Davis, Mavis Staples, John Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, and Otis Redding. As he grew up on the streets, Paris continued to sing in his neighborhood, church, and talent shows; and in addition, he formed a r&b/rock band in high school. Along the way Paris learned to play the piano, bass guitar, drums, flute, and saxophone. Paris took a short hiatus from music when he was twenty four and moved to Florida, where he pursued other endeavors. It wasn't long before Paris moved back to Chicago where he once again began to sing. Paris was soon inspired by a group singing and drawing crowds in the subway. With unbridled passion, one snowy day Paris grabbed his guitar and headed to the subway to pursue his sole motivation, which was to simply play his music. Paris discovered that others received incredible enjoyment from his passion and the subway gig became a daily occurrence, with an overwhelming underground following. Paris invited Sam Hogan and Michael Scott to join him to form a trio and not long after that Rough, Smooth and Silk was born. The trio became a huge sensation in the Chicago area, singing "The Ballad of the Bulls" for Michael Jordan and the rest of the Bulls on the Oprah Winfrey show and opening for the living legend, Aretha Franklin. The trio peeked the attention of another local musician named Dan Pritzker, who is the son of the great late Jay Pritzker, owner and founder of the Hyatt Hotels Corporation. Dan Pritzker, impressed with the talent and very real persona of the trio, joined them to form the enormously successful band, Sonia Dada. Paris helped form the Rocket Soul band that lasted for fifteen years, touring throughout the United States, Europe, and Australia. Paris has earned numerous awards such as Triple Platinum, Double platinum, and Platinum and Gold from thier hit song called, Lover Lover You Don't Treat Me No Good No More the Jerrod Niemann covered. He has won a Cleo award and is featured on the movie sound track for "Nothing to Lose" starring Martin Lawrence and Tim Robbins, as well as the Sound Track for the movie "Waterproof" starring Burt Reynolds April Grace, Orlando Jones and Janet Dubois, which was written by Barry Berman who wrote Benny and Joon. An esteemed talent, Paris has toured with Carlos Santana, Steve Winwood and Traffic, Tower Of Power, and The Allman Brothers. Paris has opened and shared the stage with other great performing legends, Bob Dylan, James Brown, Bruce Hornsby, Funky Meters, Peter Gabriel, Bonnie Raitt, Mavis Staples, the great late Rick Danko of The Band, and the great late Muddy Waters, to mention only a few! Paris has also been recognized on talk shows such as Conan Obrien and Regis and Kathy Lee; as well as entertained for the Australian Music Awards with host Will Smith. Paris’ achievements are endless, also recording with Music Giants, Marianne Faithful, John Oates and Billy Corgan. The creative talent and passion in the heart and soul of Paris Delane will continue to touch the hearts of audiences for as long as God grants us the gift of his magnificent spirit.