Hawai’i-born and Yale-educated, Dean Pitchford acted, sang and danced off- and on-Broadway (Godspell, Pippin) and in over 100 commercials before turning to songwriting (Fame, Let’s Hear It for the Boy, Footloose, etc.), screenwriting (Footloose, Sing) and directing (HBO’s Bloodbrothers).
He has been nominated for 4 Oscars (winning for Fame), 8 GRAMMYs, and 2 Tonys. His songs have been recorded by artists as diverse as Whitney Houston, Barbra Streisand, Cher, Hugh Jackman, Dolly Parton and L.L. Cool J. In 2018, Kenny Loggins’ recording of the song Footloose (co-written with Dean) was inducted into the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress.
On- and off-Broadway his work has appeared in Footloose; Carrie, the Musical; and The Boy From Oz, among others.
Dean’s novels The Big One-Oh, Captain Nobody and Nickel Bay Nick have been published by Putnam/Penguin; his performances of the audiobooks of the first two titles were both nominated for Grammys. A musical adaptation of The Big One-Oh! - with lyrics by Dean - premiered in 2019 at NY’s Atlantic Theater.
To date, Dean’s songs have sold over 70 million records worldwide.