Paul Revere Dick was an American musician, best known for being the leader, organist and namesake of Paul Revere & the Raiders. The band became notable for a string of hits from the early 1960s to the early 1970s and thrust Revere into the position of a celebrity.
Career
Dick 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. 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 hated the name and they took their name as an embellishment from his name. 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. Starting in 1965, the band became the house band for the Dick ClarkABC weekday afternoon variety showWhere the Action Is, the first active, charting band to take on such status. After the show was canceled in 1967, the band continued its house band position on the ABC Saturday afternoon shows Happening '68, and later It's Happening. Lead singerMark Lindsay and Revere became the hosts of the shows while the rest of the band added slapstick comedy to the show.
Death
Revere continued the legacy of the band until mid-2014 when his battle with cancer forced his retirement. He left his son Jamie to continue the legacy. He died on October 4, 2014.
