He is the older brother of Ben Saunders who had won on 21 January 2011, just one day prior to Dean's win, the first ever title of the music competition The Voice of Holland.

Both Dean and his younger brother Ben started applying to talent competitions early on such as for the series Daddy's Wish.

In 2000, Dean and Ben Saunders both took part in RTL 4's Alles voor de band: Follow that dream.

Their debut single the self-titled "Follow That Dream" was released in November 2000 reaching #25 in the Dutch Top 40.

They performed the song "Stand As One"[1] in the third heat under the name "The Brothers" getting just 10 points and finishing with 3% of the popular vote as seventh out of 8 participants.