| Dennis Deyoung |
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Growing up in the Roseland neighborhood in Chicago , Illinois , DeYoung's career as a vocalist started at the age of 14 when he teamed up with 12-year-old neighbors Chuck and John Panozzo in a small three-piece combo; the trio later added guitarist James Young and John Curulewski to form the band Tradewinds in 1961 . The band renamed itself TW4 in 1968 before becoming Styx in 1970 . Within Styx, DeYoung acted as lead vocalist, keyboardist, accordion player, and writer of many of the band's songs. A self-taught keyboardist who had to work to learn to play the bass notes on a keyboard with his left hand because accordian players use their left hand only to press buttons, DeYoung quickly became one of the most notable keyboardists in rock, often compared to progressive rock keyboardists Rick Wakeman , Keith Emerson , and Tony Banks . Featured on the cover of the January 1981 issue of ''Contemporary Keyboard'' magazine (a story that was reprinted in ''Contemporary Keyboard'''s book on the greatest rock keyboardists), DeYoung described how he'd never played an acoustic piano until the recording session for 1972's "Lady", recording the track for 1979's "Babe" in a friend's basement on a Rhodes electric piano he'd never touched before, and the odd feeling of switching back to playing accordian for the song "Boat On The River" and discovering how small the keys felt to his fingers after years of playing electric organs and pianos. {Link without Title} On January 18 , 1970 , he married his longtime sweetheart Suzanne Feusi, to whom he is still married. The couple have two children, Matthew and Carrie Ann. In 1984 , DeYoung began a solo career of modest success after Tommy Shaw quit Styx and the group temporarily disbanded. His first solo album, ''Desert Moon'', generated a top 10 hit, "Desert Moon", and the follow-up single "Don't Wait For Heroes" cracked the ''Billboard'' Top 40 as well. ''Desert Moon'' was followed by albums ''Back to the World'' (1986), ''Boomchild'' (1988) and ''10 on Broadway'' (1994). In 1990 , Styx (minus Tommy Shaw, who was replaced by guitarist Glen Burtnik ) returned to the studio for the album ''Edge Of The Century''; a track written by DeYoung for his son Matthew, "Show Me The Way", received extensive radio play, particularly after a number of radio stations mixed it with voice tracks of parents headed off to fight in the first Persian Gulf War . The group toured North America extensively before A&M Records (whom had just merged with PolyGram Records) dropped the group from its label in 1992 ; the group broke up again shortly afterwards, and DeYoung was on his own once more. Between stints with Styx in 1993 , DeYoung, a devout Roman Catholic , joined a touring revival of the stage musical '' Jesus Christ Superstar ''. He appeared in about 200 performances across North America as Pontius Pilate . Styx reunited once more in 1995 , this time including Shaw but minus a very ill John Panozzo (who died a short time later in July 1996 ), and recorded a new version of the DeYoung-penned "Lady" for their 1995 '' Styx Greatest Hits '' album. The group toured once more and returned to the recording studio in 1997 . Just as Styx was starting to regain the momentum stalled by their 1984 breakup, DeYoung was diagnosed in 1999 with a Chronic Fatigue Syndrome -type illness that affected his Trigeminal Nerve ; because the condition was aggravated by bright lights, DeYoung did not feel able to commit to a tour to support the group's ''Brave New World'' album. Tommy Shaw and James Young, already frustrated by a desire to focus on harder rock music instead of the art-rock/pop style DeYoung favored, used the illness to force DeYoung out of the group in 1999 ; Styx continues without DeYoung to this day. A lawsuit between DeYoung and his former bandmates was settled in 2001 with the group being allowed to keep the name "Styx" and DeYoung being allowed to use the name in descriptive phrases such as "the music of Styx" or "formerly of Styx" (but not "the voice of Styx"). {Link without Title} After the settlement of the Styx lawsuit, DeYoung was approached to put on a concert featuring his many songs from Styx, as well as his solo works and his 1997 stage musical ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'', with an orchestra. The show, performed in DeYoung's hometown of Chicago in 2004 , was a family affair for DeYoung; wife Suzanne and sister-in-law Dawn Marie Feusi sang backup, daughter Carrie Ann was in charge of publicity, and son Matthew designed the stage lighting. The concert was well-received and formed the basis for a 2004 CD, ''The Music of Styx--Live with Symphony Orchestra''. Healthy once more, DeYoung returned to touring North America with a 50-piece orchestra, as well as a number of shows with a five-piece rock band; he even did a few concerts with former Styx guitarist Glen Burtnik that were informally dubbed "The Denny and Glenny Show". As of 2005 , he is still touring and working on a new studio CD. DeYoung made his major motion-picture debut in 2005 's '' The Perfect Man '', in which he plays the lead vocalist in a Styx Tribute Band . On April 20, 2006, at the Community Theatre in Morristown, NJ, DeYoung took to the stage once again with Glen Burtnik as part of his "Lost Treasures" concert series. This marked the first time in nearly seven years the two had appeared together. While on stage, the duo played ''Watching The World Go By'' and ''All For Love'', songs that were originally written for the unreleased "Edge of the Century 2" album. DISCOGRAPHY
Music written by DeYoung has featured in the films '''', '' That 70's Show '', '' Freaks And Geeks '', '' Dharma And Greg '', '' E.R. '', '' King Of Queens '', '' Sex And The City '', '' Detroit Rock City '', '' Family Guy '', '' Disney's Atlantis '', and '' Austin Powers In Goldmember ''. EXTERNAL LINKS
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