Dermot Fergus "Derry" Grehan (born July 10, 1957) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselve ...

best known as a member of the rock band Honeymoon Suite. The band was co-founded by

Johnnie Dee John Richard DeGiuli (born October 20, 1961), known as Johnnie Dee, is a Canadian rock vocalist best known as the lead singer for the rock band Honeymoon Suite. Dee (who also plays guitar) and guitarist Derry Grehan formed Honeymoon Suite in ...

, keyboardist and vocalist Brad Bent, and drummer Mike Lengyell in 1981.

Biography

Born in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, Grehan began playing piano and switched to

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

at age 11. His early influences included Deep Purple, Jimi Hendrix and Santana. Grehan recorded his first single at 17, with a band known as Stytch. Grehan attended

Fanshawe College Fanshawe College of Applied Arts and Technology, commonly shortened to Fanshawe College, is a public college in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. One of the largest colleges in Canada, it has campuses in London, Simcoe, St. Thomas and Woodstock ...

London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximat ...

, and received a diploma in Recorded Music Production. During this time he wrote " New Girl Now" which would later become one of Honeymoon Suite's biggest hits. After moving to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

he hooked up with singer Johnnie Dee in 1982 and together they recruited the other members to form Honeymoon Suite. Their subsequent demo recording of "New Girl Now" was entered into a contest sponsored by

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...

Q107 and they won first prize. This exposure led to a record deal with

Warner Music Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and th ...

and the band released their first

self-titled An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

album in 1984. Honeymoon Suite (named after the band members' hometown of

Niagara Falls, Ontario Niagara Falls is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is on the western bank of the Niagara River in the Golden Horseshoe region of Southern Ontario, with a population of 88,071 at the Canada 2016 Census, 2016 census. It is part of the List of census ...

) sold over 300,000 copies of their debut in Canada and toured North America and Europe extensively. They were the opening act for many touring acts including

Heart The heart is a muscular organ found in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon diox ...

ZZ Top ZZ Top is an American rock band formed in 1969 in Houston, Texas. For 51 years, they comprised vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard and vocalist-bassist Dusty Hill, until Hill's death in 2021. ZZ Top developed a signature so ...

and Journey. The band released two more albums during the 1980s ('' The Big Prize'' and ''Racing After Midnight'') and received much exposure when their songs were featured in the hit TV show ''

Miami Vice ''Miami Vice'' is an American crime drama television series created by Anthony Yerkovich and produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series stars Don Johnson as James "Sonny" Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo "Rico" Tubbs, two Me ...

''. Grehan even played the lead role in a 1986

Pepsi Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by PepsiCo. Originally created and developed in 1893 by Caleb Bradham and introduced as Brad's Drink, it was renamed as Pepsi-Cola in 1898, and then shortened to Pepsi in 1961. History Pepsi was ...

commercial, air-guitaring a solo originally done by Vinnie Moore. Honeymoon suite released three more albums in the 1990s and continued to tour. Into the 2000s, the band remained active with more releases including 2008's '' Clifton Hill'' with Grehan on lead guitar. Grehan relocated to

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Roc ...

with wife and children, and besides working with Honeymoon Suite, was involved locally with 2 side projects: The Dexrays, with Dexter Hebert (drums) and Rich Leigh (bass); and LoveJunk. In 2015 Grehan received three SOCAN Classic Awards based on his songs "New Girl Now", "Burning in Love" and "What Does It Take" having been played more than 100,000 times each on Canadian radio."SOCAN Awards Gala: A Night To Remember"
''FYI Music News'', June 23, 2015

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grehan, Derry Canadian rock guitarists Canadian male guitarists 1957 births Living people