Paul Revere

Paul Revere Dick (January 7, 1938 – October 4, 2014) was an American musician, best known for being the leader, keyboardist and (by dropping his last name to create the stage name) namesake of Paul Revere & the Raiders.

The band became notable for a string of hits (they claim 23 straight) from the early 1960s to the early 1970s and thrust Revere into the position of a celebrity.

Dick was born in Harvard, Nebraska. He was the "idea man" behind the group. Even before the group, he was convinced there was a place for a combination of music and humor after seeing Spike Jones & His City Slickers. After taking piano lessons, he emulated the style of Jerry Lee Lewis. Dick grew up on a farm near Boise, Idaho. He graduated from Caldwell High School. After attending barber college, he had opened a barbershop and a drive-in restaurant in Caldwell, Idaho. While picking up hamburger buns from a local bakery he met teenaged Mark Lindsay. The two became the foundation of the band in 1959.

The band originally started calling themselves the Downbeats. When they started recording, record company executives disliked the name and they took their name as an embellishment from his name and the reputation of folk hero Paul Revere. He had the band dress in Revolutionary War uniforms, giving the band a distinctive look.

Revere was the energetic comic relief, the madman of rock and roll, in contrast to the teen idol look of Lindsay. He pushed for elements of showmanship including having the band's guitarist, originally Drake Levin, and bassist, originally Phil Volk, perform synchronized dance moves. Paul Revere himself would play organs and keyboards that all had various facades attached that looked like the front of different hot rod cars and motorcycles. He would also engage in flashy and comical spoken word banter between songs, sometimes including bandmates and even fans. He also used various comical props during the show, like oversized hats, records, stuffed animals and a toy cap gun.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.