Denny Dennis was born in the City of Derby in England on November 1, 1913. His real name was Ronald Dennis Pountain, which in later years Denny changed to that of his stage name, Denny Dennis.
Denny’s
background was humble and modest, and one which always helped Denny to keep his
feet firmly on the ground even at the height of his fame.
After leaving school, Denny had a variety of jobs in Derby. A clerk in a
solicitor’s office, a projectionist and sound man at a local cinema (This was
the pre ‘talkies era and sound had to be married up to the film) and a spell
as an apprentice electrician at the old LMS Railway Works.
Denny
had an older brother, Eric, who under the stage name Barry Gray was also to find
a successful career as a vocalist with the popular bands of the 1930’s. The
two brothers were very musical, and both aspired to enter the world of music and
entertainment when they were young men.
Eric
was the first to succeed, and he became a musician playing for various tea
dances in Derby. Denny followed soon after, and with help from Eric, Denny began
playing drums in a semi professional outfit called the ‘New Mayfair Dance
Band’.
On
one occasion Denny was asked to sing a number. The result was very promising.
The ‘New Mayfair Dance Band’ then entered a Melody Maker dance band
contest, where the editor of the Melody Maker, Percy Matheson Brooks,
liked Denny’s rendition of the song, ‘Come To Me Wherever You Are’
and arranged for Denny to be auditioned by the successful band leader, Roy Fox.
Roy Fox was later to recall the audition in his 1975 autobiography:
"A friend of mine told me he knew a young boy who could sing extremely well and he would like me to hear him. This boy was an electrician, but he wanted to join a dance band, so I arranged to hear him. He sounded pretty good, but I told him that if he would study voice training for a while, there would be a good chance of him coming with me."
Denny was a little disheartened but not put off. Denny also took Fox's advice very seriously and spent several years taking singing lessons, even during the height of his popularity.
After
a spell back in Derby, playing local venues, and also continuing to work as an
apprentice electrician, with the help of Matheson Brooks,
Denny gained work with the Freddy Bretherton Band at the ‘Spider's Web’
Roadhouse Club on the Watford Bypass, the main north road out of London.
The
‘Spider's Web’ gave the young nineteen-year-old Denny the exposure and
confidence he needed. Soon after, the well-known and successful British
bandleader Jack Jackson heard Denny, and liked what he heard. Immediately
Jackson offered Denny the chance to do some broadcasts and to make some
recordings with his band. These took place in late 1933 when Jackson replaced
Henry Hall for a spell as the resident BBC Orchestra.
“He
(Jack) used to come and collect me from the ‘Spider's Web’. He had a great
big wonderful Packard car with great big outside exhaust ports, I remember it
very well. He would take me to Broadcasting House to make the broadcasts. Then
he said he wanted me to do a recording session as well, which I did about a week
later”.
Denny
made three records with the Jack Jackson band. One of these was ‘I’m
Getting Sentimental Over You’, the theme tune to the Tommy Dorsey
Orchestra in the States, and perhaps something of an omen of what was to come
later.
But
what was it about Denny’s voice and style that impressed so many of the top
names of the day? A review in the ‘Melody Maker’ of late 1933 by Percy
Matheson Brooks stated that;
“Dennis
Pountain, the new find in vocalism, gave a very nice rendering of ‘I Cover The
Waterfront’. He is definitely one of Bing Crosby followers and has a good
voice, which will be better when he loses the touch of throatiness he gets
occasionally!”
There
is no doubt that Denny learnt about style from Crosby and there are obvious
similarities. Denny’s voice has a similar timbre, and Denny sang in
the popular ‘Crosby’ style of the period, as did many others. But Denny was
no imitator, and he always disliked the tag that he was an English Bing
Crosby.
“I
used to lock myself away in the front room and I used to play records and sing
over and over and get this phrase and that phrase off. I used to have quite a
lot of Crosby records but I studied other people too like the great Ella
(Fitzgerald), and also Billie Holiday. I thought style was going to become a very important thing”.
But
as Denny was at pains to point out:
“Never
at any time did I encourage this business of being known as the British Bing
Crosby. True, there is no greater admirer of Bing than me, but I never set out
to imitate him and to be regarded, as a second Crosby was the last thing I
wanted. I liked to think I had a style of my own.”
Following
the broadcasts and recordings with Jack Jackson, and a further spell at the
‘Spider’s Web’, Denny returned once again to Roy Fox for a second
audition. Fox was again impressed, and
this time he offered Denny a trial period with his band. But Denny’s talent won through,
and within a few days, Denny was allowed to broadcast with the Roy Fox Band. Fox
later recalled:
“When
Denny first came to me he had not had a great deal of experience of singing with
dance bands, but I detected a little something in his voice. I told Denny he
needed a little more experience. It was almost a year later when I again heard
Denny. I had no hesitation in signing him up. His name was Dennis Pountain, but
we agreed to change it to Denny Dennis. Denny soon began to make a name for
himself on my broadcasts and the records and I knew his success was assured.”
On November 22nd 1933, the young twenty-year-old Ronald Dennis Pountain made his first broadcast with Roy Fox Band, singing, ‘Thanks’, ‘Don’t Blame Me’, and ‘The Day You Came Along’. Ronald Dennis Pountain quit his job as apprentice electrician and turned professional as the singer ‘Denny Dennis’.
The
'Roy Fox' Years 1933 - 1938
Denny
Dennis was still of course an apprentice and there was a great deal to be learnt
about the craft of singing professionally. Denny continued to study the
techniques and styles of the time, and there was probably no finer place to
learn than that of the dance bands. This was the ‘Golden Age’ where
standards of musicianship were paramount. There was no masking of ability here.
Since
arriving in Britain in 1930, American band leader Roy Fox had established one of
the very finest dance bands of the time. Highly disciplined, highly musical, and
with wonderful arrangements, the Roy Fox band was one of 'The' places to be
for an aspiring vocalist. Denny Dennis had more than arrived. He had made it to
the big time.
The
age of the popular singer however was still a long way off and in those days it
was the dance bands that were the stars. The
singers of the period were often not mentioned on the record labels at all, but
merely referred to within the standard phrase, ‘With Vocal Refrain’. But via
radio broadcasts the vocalists became well known to the public, and Denny’s
name gradually became associated with vocals of the highest standard, and he became more popular.
As
part of his acceptance the young and naive Denny took more than a gentle ribbing
from the sometimes boisterous and high-spirited musicians in the Fox Band. One
time, Denny found his newly cleaned and pressed tuxedo full of fish, and having
no other, masked the smell with perfume and after-shave. He later hung the tux
out of his hotel window to air, but it rained during the night. When things
became so bad, Fox stepped in and demanded that it stop, informing everyone that
no one in the band was more important than Denny.
Life
with the band was a hectic round of broadcasts and recordings. The one thing
that Denny came to dislike about his chosen profession was the constant touring
and living out of a suitcase. But that was part of the course. Denny could also
be a little nervous when appearing before audiences, preferring instead the anonymity
of the recording studio. Most often, the nervousness did not show through.
Whatever
Denny’s concerns, he matured as a vocalist, and in his own mind set about the
business of becoming a vocal stylist. His first recordings with the Fox band
were made on December 14th 1933. They were ‘Did You Ever See A
Dream Walking’ and ‘Lou’siana Lullaby’. Denny sounded
confident and the vocals were good. However, they were tentative steps towards the
mature sound that Denny was soon to develop within his Fox
years. His recording of ‘I Wished On The Moon’ in 1935 shows far more
self assured singer, and within the later recordings such as ‘In The Chapel
Of The Moonlight’ (1936) and ‘Blue Hawaii’ (1937) we
hear a Denny Dennis who is far more aware and certain of who he is as a
vocalist, and we also come to hear the intricacies of style and phrasing that
were to make him a great talent. Denny later recalled;
“I had started to become more relaxed and I had eliminated a tendency to
over-enunciate. A relaxed, easy laid-back style is a lot harder to achieve than
you might think. To my mind, this was exactly how I wanted to sound and there is
a marked difference in the recordings that I made at the start of my career and
the ones I was doing in 1936”.
Denny’s
time with Fox was successful. The many fine recordings, the growth of his talent
and confidence, plus a very nice salary by the standards of the day, allowed
Denny a lifestyle that he would have been unlikely to have enjoyed outside of
the entertainment business.
But
Denny was also thinking beyond the Fox band and privately worked towards the
possibility of a solo career. In 1935 he made the first of his many solo
recordings with, ‘The Image Of You’ and ‘Once Upon A Midnight’.
Roy Fox was more than impressed and satisfied with the growth of Denny's talent:
"Denny Dennis by this time was getting more and more popular with audiences and his voice had improved greatly. I think he was starting to forget that he had been an electrician and was now rapidly becoming aware of the possibility that he might one day be top vocalist in Britain, which of course, he was. I'm sure it would have surprised him to know that one day he would be singing with the great Tommy Dorsey band in the States."
Roy Fox however, should also take some of the credit for Denny's success. It was Fox who heard something in Denny's voice, and it was Fox who took a risk by taking him on. It was within the very musical and disciplined Fox band that Denny's talent was nurtured and where it matured.
Many more fine recordings were to come with the Roy Fox band. By late 1937 however, the Fox Band was experiencing some difficulties. In December 1938 it finally disbanded.
By This time, Denny was ready to leave and strike out on his own. He was well known, and highly regarded. But it was not quite time for a successful solo career. Eventually, he was persuaded to join another top class and successful band, that of Bert Ambrose.
Denny had received offers from other bands for him to
join them, including Joe Loss, But Denny opted for the Ambrose Orchestra, where Denny was to stay
until June 1939. However, Denny also made
another dozen recordings with Ambrose between 1941 and 1943.
The
period with Ambrose was fruitful. Another resident vocalist, Vera Lynn, joined
Denny and the couple recorded a lovely duet, ‘Two Sleepy People’.
Denny also made a particularly delightful recording of ‘South Of The
Border’’ with Ambrose, which he was also to re-record as a solo
recording soon after. This popular number was a good showcase for Denny, who was at ease on
high and low registers. The recording was a hit, and it showed just how far Denny had
matured as a vocalist. The recording also gained interest in the States, and the
Band of Paul Whiteman showed interest in the talented English
vocalist.
If ever the time was right to set out upon a solo career, this was it. Denny was by now well known and he was riding high in the popularity polls. He had plenty of known recordings and he was regularly featured on radio broadcasts and shows. Denny decided to leave Ambrose, and he went solo with the Decca ‘Rex’ label.
But
almost as soon as it had begun, Denny’s solo career was to meet a huge
obstacle that was to hinder its progress dramatically.
In September 1939, Britain declared war on Germany and this was to have a
dramatic effect upon the professional lives of many performers, including Denny:
“Nearly
all my work consisted of commercial radio, the odd broadcast, and personal
appearances at local town halls around London. But then when the war broke out,
all the commercial radio programmes that I was doing were wiped out almost
immediately and all the Town Halls were taken over for air raid precautions etc.
So for a while the only thing I was doing was the odd broadcast and my solo
recordings for Decca”.
With
Denny’s normal avenues of work greatly reduced, Denny was eventually engaged by the BBC as one vocalist within a pool of entertainers who would
operate from various locations in Britain. Denny went to Bristol, and for a
while he seemed to be on just about everything, often making six broadcasts a
day with such shows as ‘Composer Cavalcade’, ‘Songs From The Shows’,
‘ITMA’ and later ‘Much Binding In The Marsh’ coming from ‘Somewhere in
England’, plus a whole host of other shows. It was during Denny’s time at
Bristol that Denny received an offer from the Paul Whiteman Orchestra in the
United States, but with the war, the offer had to be refused because the ‘Ministry of
Labour’ would not allow Denny to go.
In
between his hectic schedule, Denny still made records. The period 1939-1946 is
one where Denny really came into his own as a vocalist and stylist. He was
confident, self-assured, and in the prime of his talent.
What a pity it is that the vast majority of those wonderful recordings
have not seen any reissue to this day.
Denny
and many other entertainers, Sam Costa amongst them, thought that they could
better entertain the troops if they were in service, so on June 24th
1940, Denny enlisted in the RAF. Ordinary Aircraftsman Denny Dennis, on 2s6d a day. (12.5 p)
was to remain in the RAF until late 1945.
Denny
performed many duties during his RAF years, but his main role was essentially
that of an entertainer. While continuing to make many solo recordings, Denny
also made many broadcasts with bands such as the ‘Skyrockets’, Sidney Torch,
The ‘Squadronaires’ and later Ted Heath, appearing still on radio shows such
as ‘Composer Cavalcade’ and ‘Much Binding In The Marsh’. For about a
year Denny was posted to Iceland, where he also operated with Sam Costa as a
Disc Jockey on Radio Reykjavik.
It
was during this period that Denny learned the tragic and devastating news that
his brother Eric, who had joined the Merchant Navy in 1940, had been lost at sea
when the ‘SS Stonepool’ was sunk by enemy action somewhere off Iceland on
November 11th 1941.
Denny
continued to make many recordings, some of which were for the ‘Overseas
Recorded Broadcasting Services’. (ORBS). Broadcasts and solo recordings would
be sent overseas to provide entertainment for both the British and American
Forces network. Many of these solo recordings were made with Norman Stenfalt at
the piano, and four were released commercially. However, most of these solo and
broadcast recordings have disappeared with time, and only a few have surfaced.
They must exist somewhere and it would be wonderful to find them.
While
the war years kept Denny in the public eye, they also witnessed some strange
events in his career. At one point the BBC was concerned about the image the
dance bands were projecting within their broadcasts, especially the
‘crooning’ element, which it was thought might be promoting too much
‘over sentimentality’.
A
committee (which became known as the ‘anti slush’ committee) was set up to
look into it, and it eventually began to ban certain numbers, including Glenn
Miller’s ‘Moonlight Cocktail’. Such decisions led to certain dance band
vocalists being banned from broadcasting too, and work for some was harder to
come by. The BBC was the only broadcasting system at the time, so to be banned
was a major blow to a career. A major row ensued as the music industry
criticized the BBC, which was effectively telling the dance band leaders which
vocalists they could use on broadcasts and which ones they could not.
Denny
was never actually banned, but there was a rumour that he might be. At one point
Ted Heath was told that he could not use Denny on a number of broadcasts. It
usually fell to the bandleader to inform the vocalist. Eventually, Heath was
allowed to use Denny, but despite this, Denny was always uncertain about his future within
broadcasting. Oddly enough, it was just after this period that the Glenn Miller
Orchestra arrived in Britain, broadcasting via the BBC to American troops in Europe.
Miller featured the cream of sentimentality as his vocalist, one Johnny Desmond,
popularly known as the ‘GI Sinatra’.
In 1945, the war that had curtailed and interrupted Denny’s solo career came to an end. Denny was still voted as one of the top male vocalists of the period, and despite the problems that the occurred, the war years had not been so bad to his career after all.
The
Post War Years 1945 - 1948
In
November 1945, Corporal Denny Dennis was demobilised from the RAF. Denny still
had his Decca recording contract, and he was still making broadcasts. But what Denny
really wanted now was a radio show of his own, and given his popularity, and
star status, it should have been forthcoming. But it never did fully
materialise, and despite his tremendous popularity, Denny struggled a little
during these years.
Denny did eventually appear on a regular show called ‘Band Call’, singing
four or five numbers per show, and he continued to perform on variety shows at
the many theatres and music halls, as one act amongst many. But essentially,
Denny was still involved in the constant touring that he hated so much.
The
music scene was changing. The old days of the dance band era were declining, and
solo singers were coming gradually into their own. In the States, a
series of recording bans due to Union wrangling led to the emergence of many fine
ex dance band singers such as Frank Sinatra, Dick Haymes, Jo Stafford and Perry
Como. One might expect that
Denny’s career should therefore have blossomed in similar fashion, especially
given his continued popularity with the public, but careers are dependent upon
opportunity, and such opportunity was not always evident, and post war Britain
was not the United States.
Despite continuing to make many fine recordings, Denny felt that he was not receiving equal treatment with some of the other stars within the ‘Decca’ fold. As a result of the establishment of the new ‘London’ label, designed to promote British Decca recordings in the United States, there was a new publicity drive that promoted the recordings of Vera Lynn, Anne Shelton and Gracie Fields. Denny was not included, whether intentionally or not. Denny also felt that he was not getting a good choice of titles with Decca and in 1946 he decided to let his Decca contract lapse and try his luck elsewhere.
'It's
The
Bluest Kind Of Blues'
For
every vocalist a song will come along that they will make uniquely their own.
Everything gels, the vocals, the arrangements, the recording. It does not always
follow that the song will be a hit, but it still retains that magical quality.
This
was the case with the song, ‘It's The Bluest Kind Of Blues (My Baby Sings)’. It was one of
many fine recordings that Denny made with Stanley Black and his Orchestra and it
was recorded in September 1946. A
lush arrangement, and featuring a fine solo on alto saxophone by Joe Crossman,
the record evokes a late night atmospheric and bluesy feel, and Denny’s vocals
soar above it in perfect harmony and control. This is the real Denny Dennis; and
there is no suggestion of a Crosby imitator here. ‘It's The Bluest Kind Of
Blues’ is Denny’s song and in the Denny Dennis style.
The recording of ‘It's The Bluest Kind Of Blues’ was based on the Django
Reinhardt tune, ‘Nuages’. Spencer Williams, of ‘Basin Street Blues’
fame, had put a very simple set of lyrics to the tune. Certainly the lyrics are
simplistic, and hardly rank amongst the greats. But Denny recognised something
in the tune when he heard it, and he wanted to record it.
“They
were all going for this ‘It's The Bluest Kind Of Blues’ record, (in the
United States) which incidentally, in the first place, Decca hadn’t wanted me
to record. I actually really did like the song, it appealed to me.
On
a personal note, there is I feel another reason for the success of the
recording. Although Denny is perhaps the ‘archetypal’ English dance band
vocalist, he had a rare musical quality I feel that many British vocalists of
the period did not fully share. Denny seemed to understand and have a feeling
for the ‘Blues’. Other recordings by Denny bear out my suggestion, especially the 1948
recording of ‘I’m Feeling Low’, featuring Stanley Black on the
piano.
The
recording of ‘It's The Bluest Kind Of Blues’ was to prove a milestone for
Denny and his career. It was not a hit in Britain, but it proved very popular in
the United States with key people who knew real talent when they heard it.
Duke Ellington played it on his radio show several times a day, and when Tommy
Dorsey heard it, he was more than impressed with Denny's performance.
Originally, the title was not one of the selected
titles for release on the Decca / London label in the States, but somehow it
‘mysteriously’ got through.
As
a result, Decca discovered that Denny was no longer under contract to them, and
then provided Denny with all the publicity that he required, plus a rise in
royalties, and a new contract. Denny was then back in the studios, recording a
great many numbers, with the finest arrangements provided by the Stanley Black
and Robert Farnon Orchestras.
The
reason for this rush of recordings was that Denny began to receive more American
offers, and when the offer from Tommy Dorsey came, Denny decided to accept it.
He would be following in the footsteps of previous ‘Dorsey’ vocalists,
including Frank Sinatra and Dick Haymes. In March 1948 he left Britain to become
the featured vocalist with Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. By the standards of the day,
how important was this? To put it in modern parlance, it would be akin to
becoming a replacement ‘Beatle’, at the height of ‘Beatle Mania’.
A
1948 report in the ‘Melody stated that:
“Next
Tuesday, a famous British vocalist leaves for the United states to embark on a
new career in the most exciting and star - studded company that it is possible
for the imagination of any singer to envisage. The lucky vocalist is our own
Denny Dennis who gets the biggest break of his career by joining the Tommy
Dorsey Orchestra. It has been well known that for some time the Americans have
been keenly interested in Denny. His ‘London’ records of such numbers as ‘It's
The
Bluest Kind Of Blues’, ‘But Beautiful’ and ‘Honey’ have
caused a sensation in the States”.
The new Decca recording contract meant that Denny would remain under contract to Decca until 1950, but he would also be allowed to make recordings in the United States.
With
'Tommy
Dorsey' 1948 - 19
Denny
arrived in the United States to find that his recording of ‘It's The Bluest Kind Of Blues’ was
riding high in popularity, and that he was known. After a brief spell aboard
Dorsey’s yacht, the ‘Sentimentalist’, Denny was swept along in a rush of
broadcasts and interviews. At one point Denny was featured in nine broadcasts
within sixteen hours. The touring and living out of a suitcase again started in
earnest, and the distances between engagements were vast. But Denny
didn’t mind this time, for the rewards were great, and every new engagement
was in a new and exciting place.
Almost immediately upon his arrival, Denny was presented with some twenty new
tunes to learn and memorise. Most, like ‘Sentimental Rhapsody’
another slow and bluesy number, were completely new to Denny. That night the
Band started to rehearse them. It was a steep learning curve, but one which
Denny handled well.
It
should be mentioned here that one of the things that made Denny a really great
vocalist, was his ability to quickly memorise and retain a lyric, even years
afterwards, as well as having an innate and instant feel for the lyric and for
the purpose and meaning of the song itself. Denny could interpret the song and
give it real warmth and feeling. Great singers and stylists can do this. They
can take the most ordinary of lyrics and instil them with some quality. The
‘B’ side of ‘It's The Bluest Kind Of Blues’, a song called ‘Make
Believe World’ is perhaps one such example. It was a skill that would
stand Denny in good stead as occasionally he had to perform unrehearsed numbers
on broadcasts.
Such
skills, plus Denny's talent and
sheer professionalism and reliability, really impressed Tommy
Dorsey and also
the members of the Dorsey
Band, who had seen and worked with some of the very finest vocalists of the era.
One
anecdotal story serves to illustrate Denny’s talent and ability. At the end of
a show, Dorsey often left the bandstand slightly early, and he would put alto
payer and arranger Sid Cooper in front of the band. At the end of a dance in the
Chase Hotel in St. Louis, Cooper asked Denny if he knew and would sing, totally
unrehearsed, the popular tune, ‘That Old Black Magic’. Denny
agreed and gave a faultless performance. Spontaneous applause came not from the
audience, but from the band itself, taking Denny a little by surprise. A tribute
indeed. When Dorsey was told, he was impressed too, and included the number in
the broadcast the following evening.
There
were many press reviews of the new Dorsey vocalist and they were promising. For
example, one American music critic wrote:
“I’m
a great hand for going out on a limb, but this one is pretty steady, and you can
quote me: Denny Dennis is going to be one of the top balladeers of the country
and soon. He is a bit of Crosby, Sinatra and Como all in one, but different
enough to be hailed here and now as ‘the number one voice’. His voice and
his phrasings are so right you get goose pimples on your heart. Watch that name,
Denny Dennis, I think it’s going to soar”.
Touring
and broadcasting with Tommy Dorsey gave Denny much needed exposure. Within
American popularity polls he was giving some of the top names a run for their
money. In the ‘Downbeat’ Poll of 1948, Denny came fourth in the category for
a vocalist with a Big Band, beating Bob Eberly, the former popular vocalist with
Jimmy Dorsey. In the Billboard Poll he came joint fourth, with the former Glenn
Miller vocalist, Johnny Desmond, beating such talents as Billy Eckstine, but
losing to the new emerging talents of Gordon Macrae and Vic Damone.
Denny
worked hard with the Dorsey band. He was the featured soloist, and he also sang
many numbers with Lucy Ann Polk and the Sentimentalists.
Despite the hectic tours and broadcasts, Denny had a wonderful time.
Apart from appearing in such famous locations as the Café Rouge of the Hotel
Pennsylvania, he was able to meet many of the stars of the period, especially
the musicians for whom he had a tremendous respect. One such was the great jazz
trombonist Jack Teagarden. Denny also met up with Louis Armstrong, who he had
met briefly in Britain during the early 1930’s, and was surprised to find that
Louis remembered him. Friendships were made that were to last for life. The
singer Frankie Laine, Jack Duffy, one of the Dorsey ‘Sentimentalists’, and
trumpeter Charlie Shavers were amongst them. It was all a far cry from the
restrictions of wartime Britain.
Unfortunately for Denny, the ‘American Federation of Musicians’ recording ban was still in operation during the time that Denny was with the Dorsey Band. The ban was coming to an end at the very end of 1948, and therefore Denny was only to make a handful of actual recordings with Dorsey. These were, ‘How Many Tears Must Fall’, ‘Down By The Station’, ‘So In Love’, ‘While The Angelus Was Ringing’, and ‘Someone Like You’ Compared to some of the broadcasts that have survived, the recordings do not show Denny’s full potential with the band. One recording in particular, ‘Down By The Station’ features Denny singing in a rather poor cockney accent, and is a title that Denny did not want to record. However, when Mr. Dorsey says do it, it’s done. The number did appear in the 1949 popular charts for a few weeks.
Denny
was actually with Tommy Dorsey for just over a year. He was perhaps on the brink
of the biggest breakthrough of his career. To be a successful star in the
States, and with a public that seemed to welcome him and his vocal talents,
looked a very likely prospect.
Tommy Dorsey was more than pleased with Denny and would have been happy for him to stay with the band, but it was not to be. Ultimately, for personal and very pressing reasons, Denny would return to Britain in April 1949. His career was never to regain its momentum.
The final goodbyes were emotional, for Denny was popular with the members of the Dorsey band. Dorsey, an exacting perfectionist at the best of times, praised Denny’s talent and stated that Denny was "one of the nicest guys and greatest singers I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with". Lucy Ann Polk summed it up with: “Denny, a wonderful and sincere guy if ever I saw one! And a great singer. We’ll all miss you”.
With
Denny’s return to Britain, he was in fine voice, perhaps better than ever.
Certainly he was at the pinnacle of his vocal abilities. He was to make some
more fine recordings with the Stanley Black Orchestra during 1949. He quickly
set about organising new engagements, and some more touring, and some radio
work. He remained under contract to Decca, and he was able to get by and make a
living.
However,
he still faced some of the earlier difficulties that he had encountered prior to
going to the States, and the regular radio work of the kind he desired was
eventually to become much more difficult to secure. Denny still sought a radio
show of his own. But such a show did not transpire for Denny, and given his
proven ‘star’ status and popularity on both sides of the Atlantic, it
produced some caustic criticism of the BBC in the music papers:
“Denny
Dennis is going grey waiting for a series. It would be a shame if America made
his name instead of the BBC”
“Denny
Dennis made nine broadcasts in sixteen hours when he arrived in New York and
over here he couldn’t make first base in ‘Workers Playtime’. I give up!”
Such
comments may perhaps be a little unfair, and Denny did make regular radio
appearances. Whatever the reasons however, he was never to achieve a series of
his own.
Denny
then teamed up with a new quartet called the ‘Fraser Hayes Quartet’, who
eventually became the ‘Fraser Hayes Four’. Denny initially financed the
venture, and the new group was to prove successful. In June 1950 they appeared
on the radio show ‘Variety Fanfare’, and were given positive comments by the
critics. However, in January 1951 Denny left the group. This was possibly in
part due to financial pressures of maintaining such a group.
Denny
found himself back in the old routine of singing with various bands. He spent
some time with the Vic Lewis Orchestra in the early fifties and Denny also found
regular radio work as a vocalist on programmes such ‘In The Still Of The
Night’ with the Johnny Douglas Orchestra, as well as other programmes such as
‘Sweet Serenade’
Denny then teamed up for a very successful association with his old Ambrose colleague Sid Phillips, and made some twenty three recordings with Sid’s very popular band, plus regularly appearing on broadcasts and touring with the band. Denny’s time with Phillips drew many favourable comments.
However,
from the mid 1950’s Denny found it more difficult to sustain the levels of
success that he had known in his earlier career. He was not getting the work or
the titles, and he made fewer recordings. Between 1956 and 1958 Denny went on to
record some twenty-one titles for the ‘Embassy’ label, mainly with the Ken
Jones and Johnny Gregory Orchestras. These records could be purchased in the
Woolworth’s department stores, at lower prices than the hit recordings made by
the original performer. Denny recorded titles such as Como’s ‘Magic
Moments, Dean Martin’s ‘Memories Are Made Of This’ and the
Everly Brothers ‘Bye Bye Love’. With
hindsight, it may be seen as something of a comedown for Denny, but it was not
always perceived that way in the 1950’s when several versions of a song might all be
in the charts at once. The ‘Embassy’ recordings were to be Denny’s last
recordings.
What
might explain Denny’s sudden reversal in fortune? He was not the only one to
experience it. Other great British and American vocalists also found it
difficult to survive and the early to mid 1950’s were a difficult time for many
of the established vocalists. Many of the older vocalists of the 1930’s and
1940’s had to literally reinvent themselves to succeed. Sinatra
teamed up with the likes of Billy May and Nelson Riddle to produce a series of
wonderful concept albums. Perry Como continued his success with more novelty
type material such as ‘Hot Diggity’, Dog Diggity Boom’ and
Denny’s friend Frankie Laine, while not entirely abandoning his jazz roots, eventually entered the
ballad world of the western theme with hits such as ‘High Noon’.
Perhaps
Denny had become associated with being the voice of the 1930’s, the
‘Depression’ years, and as the crooner of the austere and wartime 1940’s
and the still rationed Britain of the early 1950’s. By 1954 there was a new
and emerging affluence, the public were in a mood for newness and change.
Macmillan was to quip of the 1950’s at the end of the decade: “You Never had
it so good”. Sadly, for the career of Denny Dennis, this was to be far from
the case.
Newer
and younger popular singers came along, with perhaps slightly newer styles.
Dickie Valentine, Petula Clark, Alma Cogan, (with whom Denny recorded a duet
while with Sid Phillips, entitled ‘If’n’), Malcolm Vaughan, Eddie
Fisher, Pat Boone, Andy Williams, Johnny Mathis, Michael Holliday, and
eventually Mat Monro and Jack Jones, who achieved much success in the 1960’s.
Who but the public can say why singers within similar styles either prosper or
find things more difficult? Certainly Denny was a natural to be handling many of
the 1950’s titles in his own right.
Ultimately
Rock ‘n’ Roll was to herald quite radical musical changes. The Bill Haley
and His Comets number, ‘Rock Around The Clock’ indicated that musical
change was in the air by 1954. With the advent of the highly visual and energy
charged Elvis Presley in 1956, the age of ‘Rock’ had arrived. Ironically, it
was to be on Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey’s TV shows that the gyrating Mr. Presley first came to public notice. The age of ‘Rock’ is still
with us today, as it continually and successfully reinvents itself to each
successive generation. But at the time, for the likes of Denny Dennis, it spelt
something of a disaster.
Denny
continued to work, but it was rapidly becoming more difficult to find. From
1957 onwards, Denny discovered the Northern ‘Club’ scene, and this was
eventually to provide a lot of regular work. In 1957 Denny joined his old friend
Len Marten on a tour entitled ‘Television Highlights of 1957’, billed as
‘Radio and TV’s favourite vocalist’.
Following
this, Denny found himself on tour again in a variety show called ‘Disc
Doubles’. This package show employed a lot of young and hopeful performers who
were to impersonate the big stars. Sadly, Denny was there to impersonate non
other than Bing Crosby, the very performer he had worked so hard to avoid
comparisons with. One of the performers, Dean Perelli, (Impersonating Mario
Lanza) and who under the name of Guiseppe Perelli was to go on to a successful
career in opera, commented, “Everybody respected Denny, and he should never
have been in the show in the first place. He should have been out on his own
topping the bill”.
Some
critics of the show commented that Denny was in fine voice and did a good
impression of Crosby, while others commented that Denny reached and sustained
notes that Crosby could never reach.
In
a series of interviews at the time, Denny commented on the show.
“It’s
work. It means I sing all the time and maybe I’ll break through again. I can
only hope that I haven’t got completely into the ranks of forgotten men. I’m
philosophical. I jog along. Crosby is fifty-three, and he’s still singing.
I’m only forty five, and I’ve kept going through all the gimmicks…rock 'n'
roll, skiffle, calypsos.”
For
Denny, who had always strived so hard and cared so much about developing his own
style and crafting a lyric, it was a very low point in his career. It was also a
period in Denny’s life where personal financial and family circumstances were
most profound. Quite literally, Denny had no option but to keep working. Above
all Denny retained his dignity, but the tension between staying in work, and
staying true to himself as an artist must have been difficult to bear.
Denny finally gave up on London, and took a more permanent post at the ‘Owl Country Club’ in Hambleton, near Selby in Yorkshire, as vocalist compere and entertainments manager. The club was a successful and large one, which would regularly employ the big names of the day for a week’s engagement at a time. Denny was to introduce many of them. Dickie Valentine, Johnny Ray, Lita Roza, Shirley Bassey, Ronnie Carroll, The Beverley Sisters, to name but a few. Denny was to remain at the Owl Club until 1965, when after a dispute with the owner, he was asked to leave.
Retirement
from the Music Business 1965
- 1993
At
this point in his life, Denny decided to quit the music business. He took a job
as a dispatch clerk in a paper mill in Selby. Despite finding the daytime hours
difficult, after years of irregular hours in the music business, he was relieved
to be finally out of the pressures of it. It was not the first or last regular
job that Denny was to take, and he was later work on a railway station and also
run a public House. Denny was to perform again occasionally, but the music
business and styles had changed almost beyond recognition. It was therefore an
indication that Denny’s musical career was finally over.
But
Denny was not forgotten. He made an appearance on the Thames TV programme
‘Looks Familiar’ as part of a series that looked back on the stars of the
30’s to the 50’s. The period of the late sixties also saw the emergence of
the reissue LP. Many of the recordings of the 'Golden Age' of the dance bands were
repackaged, and newer audiences heard them for the first time. This trend was
given a boost by the plays of Dennis Potter, especially so in the 1978 play,
‘Pennies From Heaven’ which used a lot of the period music, including some of Denny’s recordings. As a result of this trend an LP of some of Denny’s
1940’s solo recordings was issued on the Decca ‘Ace of Clubs’ label.
Entitled, ‘Yours For A Song’, it was Denny’s first album as such.
Following
the 1970’s, the reissue market has blossomed, and many of Denny’s dance band
recordings have been reissued, but very little of his 1940’s solo recordings,
and virtually nothing of his 1950’s recordings.
The
BBC radio DJ Alan Dell did a great deal to keep the memories of the dance bands
and its stars alive with his radio show, The ‘Dance Band Days’, as well as
other presenters of nostalgic music, such as David Jacobs, Charlie Chester, and
Desmond Carrington, who occasionally played Denny’s records.
In
1982, Alan Dell helped to bring Denny out of retirement at the age of
sixty-eight to form part of a tribute to Roy Fox at the Royal Albert Hall.
Sadly, Roy Fox had died a few months earlier. Denny was to meet up with many old
friends, and he sang a duet with Mary Lee, a former Roy Fox vocalist with whom
Denny had worked and recorded. They dueted on ‘Let’s Call The Whole Thing
Off’. Denny also performed three solos: ‘What A Difference A Day
Made’, the ‘The Glory Of Love’ and ‘The Folks Who Live On
The Hill’. Denny received a standing ovation.
In
1983, Denny made another appearance, as part of a tribute to Sid Phillips, who
had passed away some ten years earlier. The concert took place at London’s
Queen Elizabeth Hall’, where Denny sang ‘Did You Ever See A Dream
Walking’, ‘East Of The Sun’,
and ‘Hello Young Lovers’.
In
1986, Denny’s old friend Len Marten produced and presented a BBC radio tribute
to him. It was a mixture of recordings and recent interviews with Denny, and was
an excellent profile of his career, told in part by Denny himself.
On
a personal note, I listened to the programme and I would like to say that to
younger listeners such as myself, who collected Denny’s recordings, but knew
nothing of him or his wider career; such programmes are very important and we
should have more of them.
By
coincidence, 1986 was also the year that Decca re- released some more of
Denny’s solo recordings from the 1940’s on an LP entitled, ‘Starlight
Serenades – Four Vocalists of the Forties’. The LP featured nine numbers by
Denny, as well as material By Vera Lynn, Anne Shelton, and Donald Peers. Amongst
the recordings was ‘It's The Bluest Kind Of Blues’, which had seen no
reissue in forty years.
Denny
by this time was definitely retired. He was living in Cumbria, and could be
found pulling pints in his local pub. But he was not to be left alone just yet.
Writer Mike Carey and publisher Trevor Island wanted to produce a tribute to the local Derby lad who
had found such a wonderful career in the music business.
They contacted Denny, and he agreed to help them produce a book that told his
life story. The resulting book, written by Mike Carey, (now out of print but
with a few copies still available) was
entitled ‘I’ll Sing You a Thousand Love Songs’, after one of the
titles that Denny had recorded in the 1930’s. Denny related his story in a
series of interviews, providing anecdotes of a very different musical era and
his career within it. It was probably difficult for Denny to tell at times,
but it was important that it be told.
Denny
settled down to enjoy his retirement. He was content with life, and was perhaps
the most contented that he had ever been. Many messages of goodwill and
appreciation flooded in, both from Britain and the States, and surprised Denny
somewhat. Far from being long forgotten it seems, he was warmly and fondly
remembered. Such messages prompted Denny to comment:
“It
has been very gratifying for me to share my talent with so many people. I have
been overwhelmed by messages of goodwill. You may find it hard to believe, but I
have honestly never grasped how much my singing appears to have meant to so many
of you”.
Denny’s
old friend Frankie Laine also gave tribute to Denny and his talent in 1992 when
he was to comment:
“Denny
Dennis is a fine singer of impeccable taste. If you can make a living making
people happy, and leave behind a recorded legacy for future generations in the
process, then I think you’re entitled to look back with a sense of
accomplishment. Well done Denny”
Denny
could look back with more than a sense of accomplishment. But sadly, after
finally gaining some of the belated recognition that he deserved, Denny passed
away in November 1993. He was eighty years of age. The world had lost one of its
great performers, and a real gentlemen of song, and of life.
The man who sang us a thousand love songs will be missed by many, but not
forgotten. Denny Dennis was proud of his achievements, and he was also very
proud of the musicians and songwriters of his generation that did so much to
help him along in his career.
The final words come from Denny himself:
“The
fact that recordings made by me and my contemporaries from the dance band and
later eras are still sought after and broadcast to-day underlines the talent,
dedication and sheer hard work that went into making them. We live in a changing
world but our kind of music has stood the test of time and it is up to all of us
to do what we can to make sure that it continues to do so”.
Hopefully,
this tribute will help in some small measure to do just that.