CANADA-FOX
Paul Dean
Paul’s first foray into performing was on wash-tub bass, leading campfire sing-a-longs at his parent’s lakeside resort in Windermere, BC, Canada. He then graduated to a plastic ukulele, before settling on acoustic guitar, which he received on his 14th birthday.
His first professional engagement was playing bass, sax, and guitar in Chic’s Country Gentlemen, in Canal Flat, BC. He was paid $10 -- not bad for a 16 year old in 1962, for 90 minutes “work”.
After finishing high school, Paul moved to Vancouver BC, to attend UBC, where on the first day, he ran into an old family friend, whose band The Shantelle’s happened to be looking for an R&B guitarist.
It was a stretch for Paul, who cut his teeth on surf, but he finally “got the groove” with the band, before being invited by Billy McBeth to join his 3 piece band, in 1968.
Billy already had a contract to perform 3 sets, 6 nights a week, at Vancouver’s infamous Oil Can Harry’s. They had one rehearsal in bass player Carl Ericson’s garage, on the Sunday before their first show the following night - marking the beginnings of Canada-Fox.
It wasn’t long before Brian Newcombe replaced Carl on bass, followed shortly by Clyde Harvey, joining in on keys and sharing lead vocals.
After their stint in Fox, (renamed to Canada, then finally to Canada-Fox) Paul and Billy went on to form Scrubbaloe Caine. Upon its demise, Paul moved to Edmonton and joined The Great Canadian River Race. A year later he co-founded Streetheart, and shortly after that, Loverboy.