Dean DeLeo is best known as the lead guitarist in American rock/grunge Stone Temple Pilots. He was born in 1961 in Newark, New Jersey and formed the band Stone Temple Pilots in around 1987 along with singer Scott Weiland, drummer Eric Kretz and younger brother Robert on bass.
The band first called themselves Mighty Joe Young, changing to Stone Temple Pilots just because they liked the sound of the name and the STP abbreviation. The first album Core was released in 1992 after the band signed a record deal with Atlantic and it sold over 8 million copies helped by the release of two successful hit singles “Sex Type Thing” and “Plush” from the album although detractors accused the band of jumping on the grunge bandwagon.
The second album “Purple” was critically acclaimed and the band released five albums in total before they split in 2003 selling over 30 million records worldwide. The band reformed in 2008 and released a new album in 2010, the self titled “Stone Temple Pilots”.
Because of problems with STP front man Wieland’s drug addiction, Dean DeLeo formed a side project band in 1997 after having to cancel tours when Weiland boomeranged in and out of rehab. “Talk Show” released one album and toured with the Foo Fighters but it was not a commercial success so Dean DeLeo and Robert returned to STP.
After STP disbanded in 2003, Dean DeLeo and Robert DeLeo joined “Army of Anyone” a super group fronted by Filter singer Richard Patrick. Ray Luzier (ex David lee Roth) completed the line up on drums. The band released two albums “Goodbye” in 2006 that peaked at number 3 in the US mainstream rock charts, and the less successful “Father Figure “in 2007. “Army of Anyone” although never officially terminated appeared to be over as Patrick continued work with Filter and Dean DeLeo and Rober DeLeo reunited with Weiland and Kretz and reformed Stone Temple Pilots.
Dean DeLeo’s “crunchy” sounding guitar playing is a trademark of the STP sound and he favours a spacey melodic tone over hard rock distortion. Dean DeLeo collects vintage guitars but often performs on a Gibson Les Paul or Fender Stratocaster.
Although Dean DeLeo is not well known to mainstream audiences outside of the USA, his guitar playing on the band’s second album “Purple” has been very highly rated and was voted #73 on “Guitar World’s Greatest Guitar Albums of All Time” list.