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Dean Milano
In his younger days, Dean Milano spent a lot of time sitting around Boy Scout campfires in northern Wisconsin listening to the older Scouts playing guitar and singing folk songs. As a result, he developed a deep love of folk music which has always stayed with him.
He was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but moved to the Chicago, Illinois area in 1964, just in time for the Beatles arrival and the subsequent forming of garage bands on every block of every city across the country. And of course, Dean jumped into the fray and never looked back.
Milano has played at one time or another in probably 75 bands over a 50 year long career that encompasses his love of rock and roll, folk music, country and western, bluegrass, jazz, Cajun music, showtunes and every other type of music he heard along the way. His cover tunes include everything from Beatles to Bono, 1960s, ‘70s and beyond.
His involvement in the Chicago music scene goes back to the 1960s when his rock bands started playing the Chicago teen club scene, eventually opening for bands such as the Spencer Davis Group, the Cryan Shames, the Paul Butterfield Band and many more. His acoustic bands, the Casualaires and the Singing Bananas played the Lincoln Avenue scene including Orphan’s, Somebody Else’s Troubles, the Bulls, the Earl of Old Town and everything in between.
The early 1980s found him in The New Seekers singing Hey There Georgy Girl for four years on the road and singing the National Anthem with them at Yankee Stadium in front of 40,000 crazed baseball fans. Traveling in the folk music fast lane was quite a different experience.
By 2006, he returned to his folk music roots, performing the music he loved anywhere people would listen. He eventually had enough life stories to begin writing his experiences into songs. His first two CDs of original music reflect his wide interest in all the genres and his third CD goes into even more undiscovered musical territory.
His three CDs- Songs About Stuff, Vestiges: More Songs About More Stuff and Something To Think About are all available for purchase at CD Baby, and his book “The Chicago Music Scene: 1960s & 1970s” is available from Arcadia Press and his website www.toys-n-cars.com
His music has been featured on the WFMT Midnight Special, the WDCB Folk Festival, WXRT Local Anesthetic and the WNUR Folk Show along with over 130 other radio stations in 20 different countries and in 2012 he hosted the WFMT Sweet Folk Chicago radio show.
He’s also been a guest on Rick Kogan and Nick Digilio’s WGN radio shows and Dick Kay’s WCPT show as well as Steve Saunders guest on the WGN TV News.”
He continues to perform today playing all genres, but he still plays folk songs any chance he gets.
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