Derry Grehan

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Derry Grehan, formally of St. Catharines, is a guitarist for the Canadian rock band Honeymoon Suite. The band was formed by Grehan, Johnnie Dee, and Mike Lengyell in 1982.

[edit] Biography

Derry Grehan is probably best known as the lead guitarist and main songwriter with Canada’s Honeymoon Suite, a band that he co-founded with lead singer Johnnie Dee in 1982 and still records and tours with today. Born in St. Catharines, Ontario, Derry began his musical training at age 5 when he started piano lessons, and then switched to guitar at 11. After a few years of guitar lessons, he opted for the self-taught approach listening to the likes of Deep Purple, Hendrix and Santana. Derry played with several basement bands throughout high school and recorded his first single at 17,with a band known as Stytch.

After high school, Derry attended the Music Industry Arts program at Fanshawe College in London, Ontario, and received a diploma in Recorded Music Production. It was during this time that he wrote one of his biggest hits “New Girl Now", which would be recorded by Honeymoon Suite some years later.

After college, Derry moved to Toronto and recorded with a couple of local bands before hooking up with singer Johnnie Dee in 1982. They recruited the original lineup of Dave Betts, Ray Coburn and Gary Lalonde and called the band Honeymoon Suite because of their origins in Niagara Falls, Canada. They hit the road for 2 years and then recorded a demo of “New Girl Now” and sent it to a local radio station contest. The song was an instant hit with listeners and Honeymoon Suite won first prize that year. This led to a record deal with Warner Music and the band released their first self-titled lp in 1984.

Honeymoon Suite exploded on to the scene selling 300,000 copies in Canada alone and making major inroads in the USA. The band toured relentlessly throughout North America and Europe opening for Heart, ZZ Top, Journey and Billy Idol just to name a few. The rest of the 80’s saw Honeymoon Suite releasing two more multi-platinum albums with “The Big Prize” and “Racing After Midnight”. They also received numerous awards and placed their music in TV and films. Derry also got the lead role in a 1986 Pepsi commercial.

During the 90’s, HMS released 3 more albums (“The Singles”, “Monsters Under the Bed” and “13 Live”) and continued to tour. In 2001, Honeymoon Suite released their first new studio album in a decade entitled “Lemon Tongue”. As with all previous efforts, Derry accounted for the bulk of the songwriting and shared in the production duties as well.

[edit] Currently

Relocating to Illinois with wife and children, besides keeping busy with Honeymoon Suite, who continue to tour throughout Canada, Derry was involved locally with 2 side projects: The Dexrays, with Dexter Hebert (drums) and Rich Leigh (bass); and LoveJunk.