Dean DeLeo (born August 23, 1961) is an American guitarist known for his work with rock band

Stone Temple Pilots Stone Temple Pilots (also known by the initialism STP) is an American rock band from San Diego, California, that originally consisted of Scott Weiland (lead vocals), brothers Dean (guitar) and Robert DeLeo (bass, backing vocals), and Eric Kr ...

. DeLeo is also known for his role in the short-lived bands

Talk Show A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Sh ...

and Army of Anyone. He is the older brother of

Robert DeLeo Robert Emile DeLeo (born February 2, 1966) is an American musician, songwriter and producer, best known as the bassist for rock band Stone Temple Pilots. He is part of Delta Deep and he has also played in Talk Show and Army of Anyone. He is th ...

, who plays bass for Stone Temple Pilots. DeLeo's playing has received strong critical acclaim over the years. Stone Temple Pilots' second album, ''

Purple Purple is any of a variety of colors with hue between red and blue. In the RGB color model used in computer and television screens, purples are produced by mixing red and blue light. In the RYB color model historically used by painters, ...

'', released in 1994, was ranked at #73 on ''

Guitar World ''Guitar World'' is a monthly music magazine for guitarists – and fans of guitar-based music and trends – that has been published since July 1980. ''Guitar World'', the best-selling guitar magazine in the United States, contains original art ...

''s 100 Greatest Guitar Albums of All-time list.

Early life

DeLeo and his younger brother Robert were both born in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

and raised in the

Jersey Shore The Jersey Shore (known by locals simply as the Shore) is the coastal region of the U.S. state of New Jersey. Geographically, the term encompasses about of oceanfront bordering the Atlantic Ocean, from Perth Amboy in the north to Cape May Po ...

community of

Point Pleasant Beach Point Pleasant Beach is a borough in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 4,665,Scott Marlowe Scott Gregory Marlowe (born Ronald Richard DeLeo; June 24, 1932 – January 6, 2001)''Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014''. Social Security Administration was an American actor who had a starring role in the 1957 teen exploitation film '' ...

Career

Stone Temple Pilots (1985–2003, 2008–present)

Dean's younger brother

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

met future vocalist

Scott Weiland Scott Richard Weiland (; né Kline, October 27, 1967 – December 3, 2015) was an American singer and songwriter. During a career spanning three decades, Weiland was best known as the lead singer of the rock band Stone Temple Pilots from 1 ...

at a Black Flag concert. Robert soon after introduced Dean to Scott and an idea of forming a band was brought up. Dean was a guitarist and Robert managed to convince him to join. They eventually hooked up with drummer

Eric Kretz Eric Kretz (born June 7, 1966) is an American musician and producer, best known as the drummer for the rock band Stone Temple Pilots. He is of German descent. He has also played for Talk Show and Spiralarms. Kretz, who was born in San Jose, Cal ...

, and the band was formed. They took the name Mighty Joe Young, inspired by the movie of the same name. They played gigs in many bars around San Diego and the

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

area, and eventually landed a record deal with

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

in 1992. However, they were forced to change their name, as the name " Mighty Joe Young" had already been taken by a blues musician. Weiland decided on the name "Stone Temple Pilots"; although he stated that it has no real meaning, he just liked the initials "STP". The band quickly rose to fame with the release of their debut album ''

Core Core or cores may refer to: Science and technology * Core (anatomy), everything except the appendages * Core (manufacturing), used in casting and molding * Core (optical fiber), the signal-carrying portion of an optical fiber * Core, the centra ...

'', which sold over 8 million copies. The record sales were propelled by the release of the singles "

Sex Type Thing "Sex Type Thing" is the debut single of American rock band Stone Temple Pilots, released from their debut studio album, ''Core'', in 1993. "Sex Type Thing" also appears on the greatest hits compilation album ''Thank You''. The song spawned a musi ...

" and "

Plush Plush (from French language, French ) is a textile having a cut nap (textile), nap or pile (textile), pile the same as fustian or velvet. Its softness of feel gave rise to the adjective "plush" to describe something soft or luxurious, which was e ...

", and helped establish Stone Temple Pilots as one of the many popular

grunge Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of p ...

bands in the early 1990s. However, they were ripped by critics for jumping on the bandwagon and profiting from the grunge mania. With their second album ''

'', they challenged critics and became a genuine commercial rock act. Stone Temple Pilots went on to record five studio albums and managed to sell over 30 million copies worldwide. In 2008, after over five years apart, the band reunited. On May 25, 2010, the band released their sixth album, ''

'', the first album released after the band reunited.

Talk Show, Army of Anyone and other work (1997–present)

The DeLeos and

formed a new band,

, which released one album. DeLeo worked with Laughter Train in the late 1990s. Stone Temple Pilots soon released two more albums, and disbanded once again in 2002. Weiland became the lead singer of

Velvet Revolver Velvet Revolver was an American hard rock supergroup consisting of Guns N' Roses members Slash (lead guitar), Duff McKagan (bass, backing vocals) and Matt Sorum (drums, backing vocals), alongside Dave Kushner (rhythm guitar) formerly of punk b ...

, Kretz opened a studio in California, and the DeLeo brothers began to work with

Richard Patrick Richard Michael Patrick (born May 10, 1968) is an American musician, singer and songwriter. He is the frontman for the rock band Filter and a founding member of the supergroups Army of Anyone and The Damning Well, and has served as a touring g ...

, lead singer of the band

Filter Filter, filtering or filters may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Filter (higher-order function), in functional programming * Filter (software), a computer program to process a data stream * Filter (video), a software component tha ...

to compose songs for Filter's fourth album. The end result was a song that the three liked, so they contacted

Ray Luzier Ray may refer to: Fish * Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea * Ray (fish fin anatomy), a bony or horny spine on a fin Science and mathematics * Ray (geometry), half of a line proceeding from an initial point * Ray (gra ...

, a famed session drummer, and Army of Anyone was formed. The band's

debut Debut or début (the first public appearance of a person or thing) may refer to: * Debut (society), the formal introduction of young upper-class women to society * Debut novel, an author's first published novel Film and television * ''The Debu ...

was released on November 14, 2006, and they broke up in May 2007. In 2021, he teamed up with Tom Bukovac for a new project, Trip The Witch. Debut single "Saturn We Miss You" features

Jon Anderson John Roy Anderson (born 25 October 1944) is an English singer, songwriter and musician, best known as the lead singer of the progressive rock band Yes, which he formed in 1968 with bassist Chris Squire. He was a member of the band across thre ...

on vocals.

Production work

DeLeo and his younger brother Robert produced Stone Temple Pilots' 2010 album, ''

''. The DeLeo brothers also produced the album ''

TruANT Truancy is any intentional, unjustified, unauthorised, or illegal absence from compulsory education. It is a deliberate absence by a student's own free will (though sometimes adults or parents will allow and/or ignore it) and usually does not refe ...

'' by

Alien Ant Farm Alien Ant Farm is an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Riverside, California in 1996. They have released five studio albums and sold over 5 million units worldwide. The band's cover of Michael Jackson's "Smooth_Criminal#Alien Ant Farm ...

Equipment and style

DeLeo owns numerous guitars, and he is an avid collector of vintage guitars. Some of his more notable guitars include: *Three 1978

Les Paul Lester William Polsfuss (June 9, 1915 – August 12, 2009), known as Les Paul, was an American jazz, country, and blues guitarist, songwriter, luthier, and inventor. He was one of the pioneers of the solid-body electric guitar, and his prototype ...

Standards *1960's

Fender Telecaster The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele , is an electric guitar produced by Fender. Together with its sister model the Esquire, it is the world's first mass-produced, commercially successful Les Paul had built a prototype solid bo ...

*A Sunburst

Telecaster The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele , is an electric guitar produced by Fender. Together with its sister model the Esquire, it is the world's first mass-produced, commercially successful Les Paul had built a prototype solid bod ...

*A PRS hollowbody electric by

PRS Guitars Paul Reed Smith Guitars, also known as PRS Guitars, is an American guitar and amplifier manufacturer located in Stevensville, Maryland. The company was founded in 1985 in Annapolis, Maryland by Paul Reed Smith. Products manufactured by PRS inclu ...

Gibson J-45 The Gibson J-45 is a dreadnought style acoustic guitar manufactured by the Gibson Guitar Corporation. It is generally regarded as Gibson's most famous and widely used acoustic guitar model. The J-45 is part of Gibson's round-shoulder "jumbo" ...

*'57 Les Paul Special with P-90's in TV Yellow *Gibson J-100 XT DeLeo's live equipment has been described as "simple yet effective", and allows him to replicate the sounds he gets in studios. He primarily uses a modified

Dunlop Cry Baby The Dunlop Cry Baby is a popular wah-wah pedal, manufactured by Dunlop Manufacturing, Inc. The name Cry Baby was from the original pedal from which it was copied, the Thomas Organ/ Vox Cry Baby wah-wah, first manufactured in 1966. Thomas Organ/ ...

and a

BOSS Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, a ...

CE-1 stereo chorus pedal. For a number of years his rig was switched via a

Rockman Rockman may refer to: * ''Rockman'', the Japanese name for the ''Mega Man'' franchise ** Rockman, the Japanese name of Mega Man (character), the titular protagonist of the ''Mega Man'' video games * Alexis Rockman (born 1962), American contemporary ...

midi pedal, has since been replaced by a RJM Mastermind midi pedal. DeLeo also uses an S.I.B. Varidrive pedal for overdrive and distortion. A detailed gear diagram of DeLeo's 2007 guitar rig is well-documented.Cooper, Adam (2007)
"Dean DeLeo's 2007 Guitar Rig"
GuitarGeek.Com.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deleo, Dean 1961 births Living people Lead guitarists American rock guitarists Grunge musicians People from Montclair, New Jersey People from Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey Guitarists from New Jersey Stone Temple Pilots members American people of Italian descent Slide guitarists American male guitarists 20th-century American musicians 21st-century American musicians Musicians from the New York metropolitan area 20th-century American guitarists Talk Show (band) members Army of Anyone members