Dennis Interview & Children's Book

[styxfanNH]

http://www.edmontonsun.com/Entertainmen ... 0-sun.html

The last time Edmonton fans got a glimpse of former Styx frontman Dennis DeYoung was back in 1983.

"Gretzky was playing for the Oilers, he loved the band. He used to come to our shows, that's why I remember," says DeYoung, from his home in Chicago.

DeYoung was scheduled to play a concert in Edmonton a few months back, but the Oilers were fighting for the Stanley Cup and he didn't want that kind of competition for his show.

The Oilers' inspired Cup run ended in disappointment, and the team is off tonight, but DeYoung has returned and will be performing tonight at the Edmonton Events Centre.

Following that tour in 1983, Styx guitarist Tommy Shaw left the band for a solo career and DeYoung followed suit.


"I made a solo album because, well ..." DeYoung trails off. "I mean, I didn't want to do that. I had no real ambition to make solo records. I liked being in the band."

At that time, DeYoung believed the band members were responsible for Styx's popularity and didn't want to move ahead without Shaw, who did eventually return.

DeYoung released two other solo recordings, Back to the World and the Boomchild in 1988, which was his last original album.

A few years later, it was DeYoung who was missing from Styx's lineup and, unlike Shaw, it was a permanent departure.

"I didn't actually leave, I got - how do I put this? - I got kind of manoeuvred out. It wasn't my choice. I'd still be in the band if it were up to me," DeYoung insists, pointing a finger at Shaw and James Young.

"I had been ill and they wanted me to commit to a tour. I asked for another six months to get better and they decided they were going to take control and take the band in the direction that they wanted to go into and that's what happened."

Since then, DeYoung has kept busy, mostly with the music he created with Styx.

"I wrote all those songs and I sang them, so I play them," says DeYoung, rattling off an impressive list of '70s and '80s hits, including Babe, Lady, Lorelei, Suite Madam Blue, Mr. Roboto and Rockin' the Paradise.

Speaking of which, it's the 25th anniversary of the Styx release Paradise Theatre, which marks the anniversary of DeYoung's imaginary character, Sparky the Flying Dog.

"It was obscure for many years," says DeYoung, who made a commemorative T-shirt for the occasion.

"I wrote ("A.D. 1928") and if you listen it tells you on there, 'Tonight's the night we'll make history as sure as dogs will fly.' That's the opening line of Paradise Theatre that I wrote, that's where it sprang from. I yell 'Go, Sparky, go,' on that solo."

Although DeYoung has had a new song or two on some of his greatest-hits packages, he's currently working on his first album of original songs in almost 20 years. The project was spawned from his recent successes in Canada and specifically, Quebec.

"I was on Star Academie and then I toured Quebec. We did like 16 or 18 sold-out shows between January and April," says DeYoung, who was back in Canada this summer as a Canadian Idol coach.

His current DVD and double-CD, Dennis DeYoung and the Music of Styx Live with Symphony Orchestra, were released by DEP and Universal Canada and have sold hundreds of thousands of copies in Canada.

"(DEP) said they heard my record and it sold a lot and then they saw my concert and said, 'You don't suck as much as we thought you did. Why don't you make a new album?' " says DeYoung, insisting he doesn't write music for fun.

"If I'm going to write a song, it's going to be because I want to record it. That's all. Otherwise, I think I'll watch the ball game."

JFENIAK@EDM SUN.COM

GIG: Dennis DeYoung

VENUE: Tonight at the Edmonton Events Centre, formerly Red's in West Edmonton Mall.

VITALS: DeYoung is celebrating his 36th wedding anniversary with his wife Suzanne, who has written a kids' book. Following suit, DeYoung wrote his own children's story about Sparky the Flying Dog, the underdog character he created 25 years ago with the release of Styx's Paradise Theatre.

[Jodes]

Thanks for posting that.. I'll have to look for yesterday's Edmonton Sun!

What a show!

[SuiteMadameBlue]

Thanks for posting I love my Sparky shirt - LOL I still can't believe it's been 25 years!!!

[kansas666]

His current DVD and double-CD, Dennis DeYoung and the Music of Styx Live with Symphony Orchestra, were released by DEP and Universal Canada and have sold hundreds of thousands of copies in Canada.

I have his Soundstage DVD and his double CD recorded in Chicago.

What DVD are they referring to?

[bugsymalone]

His current DVD and double-CD, Dennis DeYoung and the Music of Styx Live with Symphony Orchestra, were released by DEP and Universal Canada and have sold hundreds of thousands of copies in Canada.

I have his Soundstage DVD and his double CD recorded in Chicago.

What DVD are they referring to?

His Soundstage DVD was released in Canada under a different name with two songs not on the original Soundstage release -- Suite Madame Blue and Show Me the Way.

The CD is exactly the same, I believe.

Kathy