Dean Zelinsky | |
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Born |
Dean Barrett Zelinsky February 20, 1957 |
Other names | Dean Z. Dean B. Zelinsky DBZ |
Occupation | CEO of Dean Zelinksy Private Label |
Years active | 1977-Present |
Known for |
Dean Guitars DBZ Guitars Dean Zelinsky Private Label |
Website | Deanzelinsky.com |
Dean B. Zelinsky (born February 20, 1957), also known as Dean Z, Dean Barrett Zelinsky or DBZ, is an American guitar luthier who founded Dean Guitars in 1977 and DBZ Guitars in 2008 and today owns Dean Zelinsky Private Label started in 2012.
Dean Barrett Zelinsky was the second of three boys born to Robert and Sylvia Zelinsky in Chicago, IL. Robert was a successful executive and business owner, whose company designed and manufactured custom fasteners; some of which wound up in early United States space program rockets. Dean began tinkering with electronics early on in his childhood; he was taking radios apart to see what made them work & reassembling them at age eight. When Dean was 12 years old, his father died in a plane crash while piloting his own twin-engine plane. His widow raised three boys, Dean, Glenn, and Roger in the wake of this tragedy.
Dean's guitars have been played by various artists: Dimebag Darrell, Michael Schenker, Kansas, Leslie West, Glenn Dean (Motor City Bad Boys), The Cars, Heart, The Doobie Brothers, Jefferson Starship, Dave Mason, Triumph, Iron Maiden, Sammy Hagar, Def Leppard, Nils Lofgren, Larry Crane (John Mellencamp Band), ZZ Top and Karl Sanders of Nile. Many others can be seen playing Dean’s guitar designs in photographs, on the Internet, in music videos, and in concerts. Dean’s guitar designs have been featured on the Howard Stern Radio Show, on TV at the Grammys Awards show, in books including a recent book by James Bond novelist Raymond Benson, and in countless magazine articles spanning over 33 years. TV talk show host Mike Huckabee (2008 U.S. presidential candidate), owns and plays a Dean Bass.