Paris DeLane

"A voice that has an astonishing seven octave vocal range draws you in with messages from his 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 didn't live past the age of sixteen, Paris Delane found 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 through his mother Lillian, who sang with legnedary gospel singer Albertina Walker. Lillian made two recordings, "Great is the Lord" and "I'm a child of the King." She kept company with people like Jessie Dixon, Rev. Maceo Woods, Harold White and the late Miss Evelyn Gaye who was Marvin Gaye's cousin. Paris was also influenced by other legendary singers and musicians such as Miles Davis, Mavis Staples, John Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, and Otis Redding. Paris continued to sing as he grew up on the streets, singing for the neighborhood, in church, in talent shows and once in high school formed a r&b/rock band. Along the way Paris learned to play the piano, the bass guitar, the drums, the flute and the saxophone. Paris took a short hiatus from music when he was twenty four and moved to Florida. There he pursued other endeavors. It wasn't long before he moved back to Chicago and once again began to sing. He heard of a group singing and drawing crowds in the subways and one snowy day he grabbed his guitar and went. His sole motivation was to play his music yet he discovered that others enjoyed what he was doing. He went back the next day, and the next and soon he had a literal underground following. Paris invited his brother Sam Hogan to join him and form a duo. Soon the duo became a trio and not long after that 'Rough, Smooth and Silk was born. The three of them, Paris, Sam and Michael became a huge sensation in the Chicago area. They sang on the Oprah Winfrey show for Michael Jordan and the rest of the Bulls, the song they wrote called "The Ballad of the Bulls." Rough, Smooth and Silk opened for Aretha Franklin and traveled to Japan to sing and also played at Music Row in Nashville. They were approached by another local musician named Dan Pritzker and soon the trio became the voices of the band Sonia Dada. Paris has been with the Rocket Soul band fithteen years, touring through out the United States, Europe and Australia. He has earned awards such as a Triple Platinum, Double platinum, Platinum and Gold in Australia. He has won a Cleo award and is featured on the movie sound track for "Nothing to Lose" starring Martin Lawrence and Tim Robbins, and also the Sound Track for the movie "Waterproof" starring Burt Reynolds April Grace, Orlando Jones and Ja'net Dubois. Paris's talent has sent him touring with Carlos Santana, Steve Winwood and Traffic, Tower Of Power, and The Allman Brothers. He open for Bob Dylan, James Brown, Bruce Hornsby Funky Meters, and many others, which is to many to mention! Appearing on talk shows such as Conan Obrien, Regis and Kathy Lee, while entertaining the Australian Music Awards with host Will Smith. Paris played with The Counting Crows, and has recorded with Music Giants, Marianne Faithful, John Oates and Billy Corgan. He now has a new band called, Parisdelane's Tye Dye Skye, and a new CD called, The learning Tree. The CD is mixed with funk, soul, jazz, and rock & roll! The band consist of 6 to 12 musician, poets, a 4 piece horn section, with strong lyric's, and Paris's powerful singing voice!! Check out all of Paris's website's for news and touring info. web.mac.com/thelearningtree www.youtube.com/lillianlovemusic or www.youtube.com/lillianlove2 www.new9.com or just yahoo his name , "Paris Delane"