About Me
Dean Gant, known professionally as "Sir Gant," is a well known Producer-Arranger-Keyboardist-Composer. His career began as a session musician in his hometown, Chicago, working with artists such as Curtis Mayfield and Jerry Butler. After moving to Los Angeles in late 70's, he became one of the first call studio musicians and recorded two Gold records with Bill Withers and Deniece Williams.Turning from musician to producer Sir Gant scored a hit with the song "All Night Thing" by the Invisible Man's Band, which he also co-wrote. During this time Gant wrote & arranged songs for a long and impressive list of R&B artists such as Stephanie Mills, The Spinners, Randy Crawford, Maurice White of Earth Wind & Fire, The Emotions, Temptations, and Chaka Khan.Sir Gant’s asset was and continues to be his special ability to work with and develop new artists.In 1982 he arranged songs and played all the instruments on the landmark first Madonna album, including such hits as "Lucky Star" and "Borderline".Later he helped establish saxophonist George Howard with his production of the "Steppin Out" LP, and also co-wrote Vesta Williams’ top hit, "Once Bitten Twice Shy".Dean then went on to co-produce and arrange Anita Baker's "Rapture" album. “Rapture†sold over 4 million copies and won 2 Grammy's in 1986 including one for the best R&B song "Sweet Love" which Dean arranged and on which he played the song's memorable piano part.Gant formed a new production company which was responsible for Peabo Bryson's last Elektra album “Positive†which included three songs in the Bill Cosby movie "Leonard Pt 6". One of the songs, "Without You" became a top ten R&B hit. For the next Anita Baker album, Dean arranged the album's title song "Giving You The Best That I Got" which again won a Grammy and again had a signature Gant piano part.In 1988 Dean moved to Atlanta where he produced Peabo's Capitol album "All My Love" which included the 1 hit, "Show & Tell."The success of that album resulted in Sir Gant’s producing Capitol Records artist, Melba Moore.During this time he also produced, arranged and performed the song “Don’t be late for Love†on Capitol’s Whispers "More Of The Night" album, which went Gold.Other production projects included songs on Peabo Bryson's Columbia album "Can You Stop The Rain" which also went gold; and a song for Vesta Williams’ third album. On a Capitol project in 1992 with new artist Joey Diggs, Gant produced a remake of the Temptations classic "I Wish It Would Rain" which included background vocals by Luther Vandross, Jeffrey Osborne, James Ingram, and Howard Hewitt.In 1998 Dean established his own Atlanta based production company called Atlanta Media Works Interactive (AMI). Through AMI Sir Gant worked as arranger/keyboardist and consultant contributing to hits by various Hip Hop groups including Organized Noize, TLC, Goodie Mob, En Vogue, Monica, and Outkast. AMI was also responsible for designing the recording studios for Organized Noize, Babyface, Atlanta's Patchwerk Studios, and the World Changers Ministries.In April 2002, Dean moved into music retail taking a position with Sweetwater Sound as one of their leading sales engineers. There he handled top pro clients such as Herbie Hancock, Wayman Tisdale, George Duke, Wilton Felder, Nathan East, Chico Freeman and Bruce Swedien.After spending a year at Sweetwater in Indiana, Dean returned to Atlanta to head up Guitar Center Professional's Southeastern Office (Georgia, Tennessee, and the Carolinas), and taught/created a music technology program at OmniTech Institute in Atlanta, where he was able to share his vast experience with younger artists/producers. Dean has since returned to music production and composing, his true calling, but he has benefited greatly from his involvement in studio design, music/audio consulting, and education by broadening his skill base and his perspective on the music industry.2006/2007 was a very eventful year for Sir Gant, as he decided to relocate back to California. Currently living in the Los Angeles and involved in various projects: he is the musical director for Sussan Deyhim, an international artist who has performed and recorded with Bobby McFerrin and Peter Gabriel; performed with drummer Steve Ferrone’s band Farm Fur, to name a few. Several European festival dates have taken place and are forthcoming. Keep a look out for Dean's own group, Sir Gant & The Invisible Force concert dates and a new CD.
