Dean Omori

I can save the world

Dean Omori born Dean Francis Bedwell (5 July 1968) is an English singer-songwriter, poet, novelist and short film maker. Omori is the Japanese word for "big forest"

His work often addresses human rights, war, environment, prejudice and philosophical issues. His work is often connected to humanitarian causes. Dean is the founder of The Art Of Protest, an organisation set up to encourage protest through art and music.^[1]

Personal life

Born in Great Yarmouth, an eastern English seaside town that saw an influx of Italian immigrants in the 1930s and '40s, one of whom was Dean’s mother.

Dean began guitar lessons at the age of 6 but was not a natural. He said he never really could understand the point of playing other peoples music. In later years Dean would argue that he has written more songs than most people have heard. His undiagnosed dyslexia dogged him throughout his school life until his final year when he took an IQ test and scored 147. Divorce, adoption, wealth and poverty shaped his early years until he met his future wife at sixteen and disappeared to a future that would show him music, books and art. By the age of 19 Dean was studying jazz, the romantic poets and had begin to write his own compositions.

Early career

As agents and record company promises had come and gone Dean remained focused on his songwriting. At the age of twenty-nine, popular success had still eluded him, when falling from a ladder while painting left him with both wrists and his left elbow broken and surgically wired together. For the next ten years his musical career was over. The 1990s brought in a new perspective, bringing up his two children and the writing of six novels the first of which, A Musing, was published in 1992.

Music and film

It was not until 2007 that Dean picked up his guitar again and began to write the songs that would eventually make up the album TEN WAR SONGS. For next three years he wrote recorded and produced eight albums. Dean began making short films to accompany his music in an effort to reach a wider audience. In 2008 the World Wide Fund for nature (WWF) awarded him best film for How Can You Sleep.^[2]

In 2010 Dean was discovered by Mal Holmes of OMD and signed to the label Fin Music. His music and film Censorship Burns The Books Nobody Read was used by Freemuse to help support their cause, highlighting the persecution of artists and musicians around the world.^[3]

In 2011 Dean was invited to write the music celebrating Amnesty International’s 50th year, which was released in May.

Twitter 19.42.21

Deans works often with Sophie Vaughan, cellist and vocalist. Daughter of Ivan Vaughan, was a boyhood friend of John Lennon, and later schoolmate of Paul McCartney. He played bass part-time in Lennon's first band, The Quarrymen, and was responsible for introducing Lennon to Paul McCartney at a community event (the Woolton village fête) on July 6, 1957, where The Quarrymen were performing. McCartney impressed Lennon, who invited McCartney to join the band, which he did a day later. This led to the formation of Lennon and McCartney's songwriting partnership, and later of The Beatles. Dean lives in Norwich with his wife and two children.

Albums

• Ten War Songs
• Last Artist Died Today
• Childrens Stories
• List of My Demands
• Words of Freedom
• All Breath and Rage
• I Can Save the World
• "50 years of Amnesty International EP"
• I Like the Idea of People

Quotes

“Protest doesn’t have to be ugly.” "Take off your shoes and feel the earth, get a sense of what you're not."

References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ [2]
3. ^ [3]

External links

• Dean Omori's website
• http://m.panda.org/es/sala_redaccion/noticias/index.cfm?uNewsID=147102&uLangID=1
• http://www.wwfpacific.org.fj/media/index.cfm?uNewsID=147141&uLangID=1
• http://www.freemuse.org/sw35086.asp
• http://www.greenmuze.com/art/interviews/714-songwriter-wins-wwf-contest-.html
• http://www.nme.com/musicvideos/dean-omori-send-it/791816
• http://www.antiwarsongs.org/do_search_pending_translations.php?lang=en&langcode_song=eng&langcode_vers=ita
• http://www.wymondhamfilmfestival.co.uk/2010/10/22/event-review-recycleupcycle-wymondham-arts-centre-131010/
• http://www.unlikelystories.org/movies.shtml
• http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/50-years-amnesty-international/id437001198
• http://www.iucn.org/congress_08/media/?1692/2/Remise-du-prix-connect2earth