Born in Rhode Island into a drum and bugle corps family, Dean started playing drums almost from birth. He traces his facination with the drums to when he was 3 or 4 years old, \"I used to get my father\'s drum and bugle records out and bang on the radiator with pencils\" he recalls. Being a Lopes, it was difficult not to get hooked on music. Dean\'s father, Joseph \"Jack\" Lopes was a charter member of the Rhode Island Matadors, one of the founders of \"Generations\" and a marching instructor for the Bristol and Case High School bands, as well as many other drum and bugle corp accolades. Joseph Lopes is an inductee in the World Drum Corp Hall of Fame. His mother Elizabeth has always been musically inclined and marched with the \"Generations\'\" color guard and is still very much involved in the Matadors\' alumni. Dean was brought up from grade school with the dream of playing in the high school marching band; by his sophomore year he held co-captain status, responsible for composing and teaching drum parts. At 18 years old, Dean was recruited to the Matadors Senior Drum and Bugle Corps DCA and easily made the audition for the lead timbale soloist position. In 1975 the Matadors placed 4th in the DCA World Championships. In June of 2000, Dean was honored by the Rhode Island Matadors Drum Corp by becoming inducted into the Rhode Island Matadors Hall of Fame. Realizing his potential he enrolled at Boston\'s prestigious Berklee College of Music. Dean\'s major was Precussion Performance, Songwriting and Music Production. Dean made the Dean\'s List his first year and began studying Jazz/Fusion Drum Set with greats like Lenny Nelson, Bill Norine and Gary Chaffee. At Berklee, Dean\'s group \"Universe\" with Dave Matos on guitar (known as a NYC Broadway guitarist and Letterman band sub) was showcased at the Berklee Performance Center in Boston as well as performances at the Ocean State Theater in Providence, Rhode Island for the televised Jerry Lewis Telethon. Building on the original scene in Providence and Boston, \"Universe\" with Dean and Dave morphed into \"THE PULL\", a popular New England touring club band. \"THE PULL\" gained critical acclaim with the song \"Front Page Newz\"© ASCAP (written by Dean) which went on to become the most requested song at the time on the radio station WBRU 95.5 out of Providence, Rhode Island. Still ever reforming his talent, Dean joined a 7 piece pop group, \"Push Comes To Shove\" a super slick 80s sound, like \"Human League\" meets \"The Fixx\", with songs produced by the \"Cars\'\" keyboardist Greg Hawkes. \"Push Comes To Shove\" ranked in the top 5 play list on WBCN in Boston for over 6 months. With rock moving in on new wave, Dean joins \"Cosmic\" Joe Caron and Steve Bigelow and formed \"F-Sharp.\" For several years this group is hot, touring all over New England and NY state, with elaborate shows featuring lighting effects by \"The Wiz\" (of \"J Geils Band\" and \"Boston\" fame) and audio effects like \"Magic Drums\". \"F-Sharp\" was known for their awesome energy, tight vocals, and theatrical staging. They went on to win the WHJY 94.3 Rock Wars. From there \"F-Sharp\" had the opportunity to audition to become Robert Tepper\'s touring band (\"No Easy Way Out\"-Rocky IV). Dean ended up being Robert\'s drummer for a short time, and played with Mike Ward (\"Wallflowers\" ). When that tour ended, he went on to tour with \"Area Code\" of NYC for a brief time before moving to LA. In 1990 Dean moved to L.A. and released \"Get Up!\", his first self produced album as singer, songwriter and drummer. His reputation growing, Dean was hired to sub for Prairie Prince with \"The Tubes\" on an east coast leg of a tour. It was a great challenge knowing Prairie\'s reputation and being one of only a handful of drummers who have had the privlege \"When I received the call from Rick Anderson (bass player from \"The Tubes\" ) I said, \'oh great so I can sit in with you\'. Rick said \'sit in? I am calling to ask you to fill in for Prairie on the tour\'. I said \'GREAAAT! I\'m moving to L.A. I\'ll be there by the end of the week\'. Rick said \'well the tour is on the east coast\'. So I said, well I guess I\'ll come back!\" Back in L.A. Dean continued his passion for drumming. Having a solo drum performance at the LA marathon, sponsored by Guitar Center and performing at the Hollywood Christmas Parade with Rick Brannon. Dean opened Studio 8 in Woodland Hills CA and began engineering, recording and playing drums for a multitude of local bands. Dean was chosen in 1994 to perform drums on a Burger King ad aired in the UK. In 1995, Dean was selected from over 200 International entries of Todd/Utopia songs, for an arrangement of \"Cry Baby\" by Todd Rundgren on the tribute CD \"Still There Is More a Tribute to Todd Rundgren Part II\". On this project Dean sang, played and recorded every instrument. 1995 also brought Dean back to his roots with the release of \"Big Bang Theory\" the CD. Dean\'s newest objective clearly redefines and stretches the role of the drummer in the 90s with moods ranging from funk, thrash, rock, and swing to smooth hiphop and hot latin. This very unique project shows how all music is related to the first instrument, the DRUM. Not long after that, \"The World Chart Show\" , the world\'s largest syndicated radio show outside the US, picked up Dean\'s music as background production tracks. Dean went on to record original scores for music production libraries \"Tunedge\" and \"SuperCharger\" by Brandon D\'Amore Productions. Building on this experience, Dean went on to write, play, record and engineer the \"Fast Track\" production library. Dean signed on with Paramount Studios for world wide distribution on the Entertainment Tonight Show, where his works were extensivly played. For over 10 years, Dean\'s music has been played on such notable shows as The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Daily 10, Sizzling Summer, E! True Hollywood Stories, Talk Soup, Dr. 90210, Huff, Sports Talk Live, Play Boy Channel, Beyond the Glory, Wild On, Celebrity Adventures, Search Party, Food and Wine, and the E! 10th Anniversary Party Show. Dean\'s song \"Labyrinth\" (which he wrote and recorded) on \"The Big Bang Theory\" album was chosen to be on a documentary called \"Solid Bodies the Movie-The 50 Year Guitar War\" . Also in the movie, you can hear Dean\'s drumming on the songs of Rick Brannon. Once Dean\'s songs gained popularity on television and radio he created a compilation of these soundtracks as well as new original scores to write, play, record, and produce the CD \"Private Isle\" . \"Private Isle\" has a relaxed mellow jazz vibe, with songs like \"Wave Bye\", \"Smooth\" and \"Cloud\", while songs like \"Tear It Up\" and \'Fave Rave\" are tight, funky and fiery. Song writting and drumming still coexist for Dean. He has just finished recording several country tunes that he will be shopping as well as releasing a new heavy to light rock vocal CD while gearing up for Drummadness:Big Bang Theory The Live Show. Dean is forever working to reinvent the common style of the drum culture and open doors to the unconventional and is looking forward to future collaborations with artists of varied genres.