History

Dee Farace grew up in New Jersey with music woven into the fabric of everyday life. From an early age it was clear she wasn't just someone who enjoyed music — she was someone who needed it. Whether it was singing along to the radio in the kitchen, putting on impromptu living-room shows for family, or belting out songs in the school hallway, performing was never a choice for Dee. It was simply who she was.

Her natural stage presence caught the attention of teachers and peers alike. School plays, talent shows, and local recitals became her earliest training ground — not formal conservatory work, but the real-world education of reading a room, connecting with an audience, and learning that a single voice, delivered with conviction, can stop a crowd cold.

As Dee moved through her teens and into adulthood, her musical identity sharpened. She gravitated toward the soulful, the heartfelt, and the honest — artists who sang from lived experience rather than polished performance. That authenticity became the cornerstone of her own style: a warm, expressive voice capable of tenderness and power in equal measure.

She began performing at local venues across New Jersey — bars, restaurants, community events, and private functions — building a following one show at a time. No overnight success story, no viral moment. Just years of showing up, singing her heart out, and earning the loyalty of audiences who recognized something genuine when they heard it.

Shorty Long & the Jersey Horns wasn't just a band — it was a family. A high-energy party band that took their show on the road across the United States, they brought the house down everywhere they went. Dee was a featured vocalist with the group, and together they lit up stages from coast to coast, delivering the kind of night that audiences never forgot.

Traveling together, performing together, and living that road-life together forged bonds that went far beyond music. The camaraderie, the shared experiences, and the sheer joy of performing with people who felt like family shaped Dee in ways that still show up in everything she does on stage today. Those years with Shorty Long & the Jersey Horns were some of the most formative — and most fun — of her career.

Between her time with Shorty Long & the Jersey Horns and the formation of Who Brought The Dog, Dee was part of Rock Bottom — a band that, while short-lived, was another important chapter in her performing story. Brief as it was, Rock Bottom kept Dee on stage and in front of audiences, and reinforced what she already knew: that performing wasn't something she could step away from for long.

Every band Dee has been part of has added something to her — a new skill, a new audience, a new way of thinking about what it means to connect with a room full of people. Rock Bottom was no exception.

One of the defining chapters of Dee's performing life has been her role as frontwoman of Who Brought The Dog — a high-energy, horn-driven party band that has become a fixture at weddings, corporate events, festivals, and private celebrations across the region. The band's name alone tells you something about their philosophy: don't take yourself too seriously, bring the fun, and leave the room better than you found it.

As lead vocalist, Dee is the engine that drives Who Brought The Dog. Her ability to work a crowd — to read the energy in a room and respond to it in real time — has made the band a go-to choice for event planners and hosts who want a live music experience that people actually talk about afterward. From classic Motown to contemporary pop, from slow dances to full-floor dance parties, Dee and the band deliver every time.

Beyond the covers and the party sets, Dee has always had original music living inside her. Over the years she has channeled personal experience — love, loss, joy, resilience — into her own recordings. Her catalog of original work reflects the full range of her artistry: intimate ballads that feel like late-night confessions, upbeat tracks that carry the warmth of a summer evening, and everything in between.

Recording has given Dee a different kind of creative freedom than live performance. In the studio, there's no crowd to read, no room to fill — just the song, the microphone, and the truth of the moment. That vulnerability comes through in every track she releases, and it's what keeps listeners coming back.

Music isn't Dee's only creative outlet. She is also a practicing visual artist whose paintings and drawings have developed alongside her musical career. For Dee, visual art and music aren't separate disciplines — they're two languages for expressing the same inner world. Where music unfolds in time, painting captures a single moment; together they give her a complete vocabulary.

Her artwork — available through her online gallery — reflects the same emotional directness that defines her music. Bold color choices, expressive brushwork, and subjects drawn from the world around her. Collectors and admirers of her visual work often note that it feels unmistakably like Dee: warm, honest, and alive with personality.

Today, Dee Farace continues to perform, record, and create with the same energy that drove her as a kid putting on shows in the living room. She plays venues across New Jersey and beyond, books private and corporate events through her website, and releases new music on her own terms and timeline.

What hasn't changed — what has never changed — is the reason she does it. Not for fame, not for industry validation, but because performing and creating are simply what Dee does. It's who she is. And if you've ever caught one of her shows, heard one of her songs, or stood in front of one of her paintings, you already know exactly what that means.