About me

My name is Rex Dean.

I was born in Phoenix, toddled in Kansas, and spent my high school years — one of nine kids — on a farm in Colorado, playing football and singing with my dance/cover band. In college I fell in love with both the “American Songbook” of jazz, swing, and Broadway tunes, and (thanks to a PBS special on Pavarotti) the “World Songbook” of Italian and French opera. I have had the pleasure of singing at the Montreux Jazz Festival, for Princess Grace, Leonard Bernstein, and Ella Fitzgerald, among others. I’ve emceed and performed in over a hundred concerts, mostly when I was younger.

My interests are somewhat eclectic. I’ve designed software, published articles and photographs, chased cattle, written and directed short films and commercials, shingled roofs, developed x-rays, made mosaics, laid bricks, created robotic machines, worked as a plumber, restored old cars, painted paintings, sewed, made furniture, and…you get the idea. Looking back over my life, I realized what I enjoyed most, and found most gratifying, were three things: 1) being a dad, 2) singing, and 3) working with nonprofits, whether producing benefit concerts, writing business plans, or directing fundraising films. I plan to spend my remaining years doing these three things. The people I admire most are the givers, and my goal is to give the most of myself that I can, and with any luck, make the world a slightly better place.

Please sign up for my mailing list and I’ll let you know how things are going. Thanks!

— Rex