Family man, musician, composer, lawyer, businessman and author of an award-winning corporate history, Deane Nesbitt, Jr. has been playing the piano since he was four. Throughout arts and law at McGill University and a management program at the Harvard Business School, Deane’s interest in music never wavered.

Deane started his musical career by playing piano for the visually impaired. As he plays piano by ear and substantially favours the black or raised keys, he made the analogy between the raised keys and Braille and found he could also teach piano to the blind.

His first vinyl album, On the Black Keys and By Ear, was produced in the 1970s to raise money for the blind. A review of the disc by Rob Montgomery in The Gazette, Montreal, stated: “Playing by ear as it should be… Nesbitt is obviously a keen judge of sound… he comes off as a model of ear playing.”

Deane produced a second album in the 1980s, Ocean Rain, which included five of his own compositions. Montreal Calendar Magazine chose this album as a contest prize. Deane often entertained in Europe and in his early career, he played personal requests for the late Greta Garbo.

Deane’s first CD in the 1990s, Castaway, consisted entirely of his own compositions. It was arranged by David Nelson and produced by Gene Evans. Castaway reached no. 2 in HMV Toronto Superstore’s Independent Top 15 Chart.

His next CD, Everywhere from Here, also consisting entirely of his own compositions, was arranged and produced by Brian Gagnon as a millennium project. One of the compositions, Canadian Summer, was performed by the Canada Pops Orchestra at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto, during the Exhibition’s 125th anniversary.

Apart from the music, Deane has been involved in a variety of businesses and has served on the boards of fourteen organizations, most of which have been involved with education or medicine. He is listed in the Canadian Who's Who. A self-taught “weekend painter,” Deane has had several commissions for houses and landscapes. He used several of his paintings in the corporate history mentioned above.

Other interests of Deane’s relate to the outdoors – his music is largely inspired by nature – and these interests have included cycling, hiking, kayaking, photography and flying.

Deane is a member of the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN). His music is endorsed by the Hans Selye Foundation [Hans Selye was the doctor who first discovered the now-familiar concept of stress], the Canadian Institute of Stress, the Centre for Corporate Vitality and Calgary radio AM 1060 CKMX, the official radio station for Alberta’s Centennial. Deane’s special variety of ‘lifestyle’ music has its own trademark, Nesbitt Music ™. It is heard arouind the world on radio and through satellite broadcast and is sold to customers from the Americas to Southeast Asia.