Dean Kohn had his first musical beginnings at a very early age. From playing the trumpet in grade school to Rock-n-Roll in high school, he loved to listen to bands like Cheap Trick and AC/DC.
In 1985, at the age of 20 years old, Dean began singing and excelled quickly to the point where in 1986 he decided to take up singing full-time. Over the next two years he took vocal lessons from Hollywood vocal coach Elizabeth Sabine, who has trained such vocalists as Michael Sweet of Stryper, Don Barnes of 38 Special and Dave Mustaine of Megadeth.
In 1988, Dean was singing lead vocals for the band ATTAKK, when friend and band mate, Hideo Inakuma, introduced him to the Japanese band Loudness. Upon recording and pre-releasing a demo in Japan for the band ATTAKK, the members of Loudness inquired if Dean would be willing to sing on their upcoming CD, Soldiers of Fortune. Munetaki Higuchi, the drummer for Loudness, and Hideo Inakuma contacted Dean and they all agreed to meet and set recording dates. Although Dean began cutting tracks, Executive Producer, Max Norman, determined it would be better to replace Dean with Mike Vescara, whose vocals resembled more the prior singer’s. Disappointed but not discourged, Dean kept pursuing his career.
In 1989, Dean met with guitarist Mick Zane and bassist Mark Behn, from the band Malice. Dean was invited to join the band as lead vocalist. However, due to Dean’s battle with drugs and alcohol he felt he had to leave the band.
In 1991, Dean was accepted Christ into his life; however, his desire was to still sing and pursue a career in music.
But God kept pursuing Dean and in 1992, he felt that he needed to surrender his whole life to Christ and he entered rehab at Victory Outreach Men’s Home (VOMH). Here Dean was able to get clean and develop a mature in Christ. Upon graduation, from VOMH, Dean laid his musical dream down and began working with the VOMH faculty, helping others discover a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Dean has been serving and helping to build this ministry for over 17 years now.
Dean’s desire to sing has never waned through the years, but as a fully committed Christian he realized that he needed to personally wait on God and His timing. Dean believes this is now the time. He contacted Barren Cross after noticing that they did not have a lead singer listed on the band’s MySpace. Dean initially contacted Ray Parris via email. He then had subsequent phone conversations with both Ray Parris and Steve Whitaker. Finally, Jim LaVerde, Steve, Ray and Dean met and, after much prayer, Dean was asked to become the new lead vocalist for Barren Cross
