The Boston Pops performing at the Hatch Shell on July 4, 2005

The Edward A. Hatch Memorial Shell (commonly referred to as the "Hatch Shell") is an outdoor concert venue adjacent to the Charles River Esplanade near downtown Boston.

The Hatch Shell is best known for hosting the Boston Pops Orchestra annually for the Boston Fourth of July celebration, but is also used for free concerts most weekends and many weeknights during the summer months. The grass pavilion in front of the stage has no permanent seating. There is a memorial to Arthur Fiedler, first permanent conductor of the Pops, nearby.

The original, wooden shell was built in 1928 as a temporary venue for the Pops with expectations of construction of a permanent structure in the near future. It was first used for a concert on July 4, 1929, with Arthur Fiedler conducting the Boston Pops Orchestra. A second, temporary shell, made of metal, was built in 1934, but owing to sparse funding throughout the Great Depression, construction of a permanent Hatch Shell was delayed until 1939-1940. Today's permanent shell was designed by architect Richard J. Shaw, given by Maria Hatch in memory of her brother, and dedicated on July 2, 1940. In preparation for its 50th anniversary in 1991, it underwent significant renovation and repair along with modernization of its acoustics. Bostonian Howard Brickman, a master craftsman specializing in wood floors, re-created the intricate interior paneling of the shell by hand.

One of the most memorable shows at the venue was on September 9, 1994 when Green Day held a free concert. The event was touted as the Welcome Back Weekend show for college students, and was sponsored by WFNX Radio. Tens of thousands of people showed up, and during the song, "Longview", Green Day's frontman, Billie Joe Armstrong, began ripping up a flowerbed and the crowd began violently rioting.^[1] Police formed a human chain, and eventually pushed the remaining fans off the Esplanade. Calm was restored after about two hours.

The Hatch Shell was the venue for what has been claimed^{[by whom?]} to be the largest concert in Independent Music Industry history, when Dispatch held The Last Dispatch concert there and 110,000 people attended. Other uses of the Hatch Shell include movie showings and political speeches, and it is used as a meeting place for large events, such as AIDS Walk Boston and the Larry Kessler 5K Run. Since 1996, the Hatch Shell has become the home of Oldies 103.3 WODS Free Summer Concert Series. The grass pavilion is used for picnics, casual sports, and sunbathing in a manner typical of urban parks.

References[link]

• Martha Burnham Humphrey, The Edward Hatch Memorial Shell: Richard Shaw, architect, William R. Barss, acoustic consultant, Maurice Reidy, structural engineer : dedicated July 2, 1940, published in 1940.
• Jim Vrabel, When in Boston: a time line & almanac, Bostonian Society, Northeastern University Press, 2004, page 294.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Hatch Shell

• Official site
• Fan site

Coordinates: 42°21′26″N 71°04′25″W / 42.357311°N 71.073687°W / 42.357311; -71.073687

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (September 2009)

Dennis DeYoung
DeYoung performing with Styx in Kitchener, Ontario in 1994.
Background information
Born	(1947-02-18) February 18, 1947 (age 65) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Genres	Rock, progressive rock
Occupations	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, keyboards, accordion
Years active	1961–present
Associated acts	Styx (1961–1999)
Website	http://www.dennisdeyoung.com/

Dennis DeYoung (born February 18, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter, musician and producer best known for being a founding member of the rock band Styx as lead vocalist, keyboardist and primary songwriter, a tenure that lasted from 1961 until June 1999.

Early life[link]

Growing up in the Roseland neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois, DeYoung's career as a vocalist started in 1961 at the age of 14 when he teamed up with his 13-year-old neighbors, Chuck and John Panozzo, in a three-piece combo. The trio later added guitarist James Young and John Curulewski to form the band Tradewinds in the late 1960s. The band renamed itself TW4 in 1968 before becoming Styx in 1970.

Before the band met with success, DeYoung spent time as an elementary school teacher in the southern suburbs of Chicago, where he taught music at Kolmar School in Midlothian, Illinois. During this period, the band played a number of small venues and school auditoriums, refining their craft before the song "Lady" propelled them to national, then international, stardom.

On January 18, 1970, DeYoung married his longtime sweetheart, Suzanne Feusi, to whom he is still married. The couple has two children, daughter Carrie Ann and son Matthew. Suzanne DeYoung frequently joined her husband on the road, and eventually their children came along as well as a way to provide stability for their family.

DeYoung is an avid fan of the Chicago White Sox^[1]

Tenure with Styx (1970–1984)[link]

Within Styx, DeYoung acted as lead vocalist, keyboardist, accordion player, producer, writer and creative force behind many of the band's hit songs. In fact, DeYoung was the band's primary hit writer and singer, writing and singing 7 out of the band's 8 top 10 singles. Specifically DeYoung wrote and sang the following top 10 Styx singles: Babe (#1), Show Me The Way (#3), Mr. Roboto (#3), Best of Times (#3), Don't Let It End (#6), Lady (#6), and Come Sail Away (#8). A self-taught keyboardist, DeYoung quickly became one of the most notable players of that instrument in rock. 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 many of his steps along the way through his keyboard-playing career: He'd never played an acoustic piano until the recording session for 1972's "Lady"; he recorded the track for 1979's "Babe" in a friend's basement on a Rhodes electric piano he'd never touched before; the odd feeling of switching back to playing accordion 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.^[2]

As a keyboardist in Styx, DeYoung was best remembered for his prominent lead synthesizer solos performed on the Oberheim synthesizer that dominated the mix with a unique tone, a key element of the Styx sound. Influenced by the recent release of Emerson, Lake & Palmer's first album, DeYoung – a novice synthesizer player at the time – used a modular Moog to record the keyboard tracks for the first Styx album. This album featured a rock version of "Fanfare for the Common Man", more than 5 years before ELP came up with a similar idea of recording this classical composition as a rock band featuring the synthesizer that would later become one of ELP's best known recordings.

DeYoung's songs often had a grandiose style to them in the tradition of 1970s theatrical rock, which heavily influenced the group's direction in the late 1970s, culminating in the concept albums Paradise Theatre (1981) and Kilroy Was Here (1983). The dissent of some members in the band during Kilroy brought tensions between the group's members over the future direction of the band, leading to guitarist Tommy Shaw's departure in 1984.

Early solo career (1984–1989)[link]

With Styx in limbo following Shaw's 1984 departure, DeYoung began a solo career of modest success. 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 100 as well. Desert Moon was certified gold in Canada in 1984.

DeYoung's solo career continued with Back to the World (1986), which contained the song "This Is the Time" from the soundtrack of Karate Kid II, and Boomchild (1988), which received a fair amount of music video airplay.

After a five-year hiatus; DeYoung and several other members of Styx began discussing a possible reunion in 1989. By December, 1989 Styx had unofficially reformed. Tommy Shaw, who joined Damn Yankees in 1988, did not return.

Reuniting with Styx (1990–1992)[link]

In 1990, Styx (minus Tommy Shaw, who was replaced by guitarist/singer-songwriter Glen Burtnik) returned to the studio for the album Edge of the Century. "Show Me the Way", a track written by DeYoung for his son Matthew, received extensive radio play, peaking at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart (Styx's 8th top 10 single, and 7th written and sung by DeYoung) 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 (which had just merged with PolyGram Records) dropped the group from its roster in 1992; the group broke up again shortly afterwards.

Venture into acting (1993–1995)[link]

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. The experience inspired him to record his 1994 album of Broadway standards, 10 on Broadway, and to begin work on a musical of his own based on The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Reuniting with Styx (1995–1999)[link]

"Lady '95" (1995)[link]

In 1987, A&M Records had released a compilation album of Styx tracks as volume 15 of their "Classics" series, but since A&M did not own the rights to the original recording of "Lady" (which had been released by Wooden Nickel Records through a distribution deal with RCA Records), the track could not be included on the disc. In 1995, Styx reunited, this time with Shaw, but without a terminally ill John Panozzo, who had developed cirrhosis following years of chronic alcoholism. The band recorded a new version of "Lady", which became the lead track ("Lady '95") of a new compilation album, Styx Greatest Hits, for A&M. Todd Sucherman (uncredited) provided the drum track for the recording session. Panozzo died of gastrointestinal bleeding on July 16, 1996. Sucherman took his place, and in 1996, Styx toured for the first time in four years.

"Return to Paradise" tour (1996–1997)[link]

The 1996 "Return to Paradise" tour proved remarkably successful, and a 2-disc live recording of the show (with three new studio tracks) proved even more so; 1997's Return to Paradise went gold and spawned a top-30 hit on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart, the DeYoung-penned "Paradise". With the positive response and a new record label (CMC International), Styx returned to the studio in 1998 and began work on what would become their first studio album in eight years.

Departure from Styx (1999)[link]

Though DeYoung and his bandmates had been able to put their musical and personal differences aside during the "Return to Paradise" tour, the same problems resurfaced once work started on Brave New World. A chronic fatigue syndrome-like disorder affecting DeYoung's trigeminal nerve—which left him overly sensitive to bright light and sound, making performing on stage nearly impossible—further complicated matters, and eventually led to DeYoung being replaced by Canadian star Lawrence Gowan in 1999.^{[citation needed]} A lawsuit between DeYoung and his former bandmates was settled in 2001, with the group being allowed to keep the name "Styx" and DeYoung able to use the name in descriptive phrases such as "the music of Styx" or "formerly of Styx" (but not "the voice of Styx"). When asked about any possible reunions with DeYoung, James Young of Styx commented on an edition of Behind the Music "maybe when they are playing hockey on the river Styx" and on an episode of VH1's Feuds 2000 "as The Eagles said 'when Hell freezes over'". However, in 2007, when asked about the possibility of DeYoung returning to Styx, Chuck Panozzo told tampabay.com, "Before any more of us die, I would hope that it could happen. Every year that it doesn't happen is another year that goes by. And if you wait too long, who will care?"

Post-Styx career[link]

In February 2000, DeYoung was approached to perform 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 at the Rosemont Theatre in DeYoung's hometown of Chicago, was a family affair for DeYoung. His wife Suzanne and sister-in-law Dawn Marie Feusi sang backup, his daughter Carrie Ann was in charge of publicity, while his son Matthew designed the stage lighting. The concert was well received and formed the basis for a touring version of the show, and eventually an 2004 album, The Music of Styx - Live with Symphony Orchestra.

Healthy once again, DeYoung returned to touring North America with a 50-piece orchestra augmented by a five-piece rock band which included Tommy Dziallo on guitar, Hank Horton on bass, and Kyle Woodring (from John Mellencamp and Deana Carter) on drums, all of whom also played shows with DeYoung with or without the orchestra.

DeYoung made his major motion picture debut in 2005's The Perfect Man, in which he played the lead vocalist in a Styx tribute band.

In 2006, DeYoung appeared along with Supertramp's Roger Hodgson on Canadian Idol where he performed with and mentors the contestants.

On April 20, 2006, at the Community Theatre in Morristown, New Jersey, DeYoung took to the stage once again with former Styx member Glen Burtnik as part of his Lost Treasures concert series. It marked the first time in nearly seven years the two had appeared together. On his website, DeYoung jokingly dubbed the performances "The Denny and Glenny Show." While on stage, the duo opened with the Beatles classic "We Can Work It Out" and also performed "Watching The World Go By", and "All For Love", songs that were originally written for the unreleased Edge of the Century 2 album.

On September 14 and 15, 2006, DeYoung appeared with Hal Sparks on Celebrity Duets, a show produced by Simon Cowell. They sang "Come Sail Away" and "Mr. Roboto." DeYoung was invited back to perform on Celebrity Duets on September 28, 2006 with finalist Hal Sparks. The pair performed the Styx breakthrough hit "Lady" written by DeYoung in 1973, with DeYoung serenading his wife Suzanne in the audience while Hal did the same for his long-time girlfriend.

In 2007, DEP Records of Canada released DeYoung's stateside CD Dennis DeYoung and the Music of Styx Live with Symphony Orchestra which went on to achieve platinum status.^[3] In Canada 50,000 plus copies sold for a double CD qualifies as platinum. They also released his DVD The Rock: Symphonic Music of Styx which went triple platinum.^[4] In addition he appeared on the television show Star Académie.

On June 19, 2007, DeYoung released in Canada his fifth solo album, One Hundred Years from Now marking a return to his rock roots. The first single, the title track, was a duet with Québécois singer Éric Lapointe. The single reached #1 on the Québec Radio Single and Soundscan charts. The album was released in the U.S. on April 14, 2009 with slightly different tracks.

On New Year's Eve 2007, he performed "Mr. Roboto", "Come Sail Away" and many other classics to a large audience at Victoria Park in Niagara Falls, Canada, and millions of viewers via live television on CHCH-TV Channel 11. Following his concert he did a brief live interview with CHCH-TV's Mat Hayes.

On May 8, 2008, DeYoung's musical version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame premiered at the Bailiwick Repertory Theatre in Chicago.^[5] This production went on to win the Joseph Jefferson Award for best musical in Chicago in 2008.^[6]

On September 20, 2008, DeYoung performed at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame benefit concert for the John Entwistle foundation. The benefit concert was held at the Koka Booth Amphitheater in Cary, North Carolina and featured many other rock and roll musicians. He and his band performed many of Styx's hits.

In November and December 2008 DeYoung was a featured artist on the German Night of the Proms 20 city tour. He joined Robin Gibb, Tears for Fears, 10CC and Kim Wilde on the sold out tour. He also accompanied Robin Gibb on piano performing "How Deep Is Your Love".

On July 12, 2009, DeYoung was honored by his native Chicago with the "Great Performer of Illinois Award."^[7] Following the award ceremony in the Frank Gehry-designed Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park in Chicago, DeYoung and his band performed many of Styx's hits in a free concert.

On October 13, 2009, DeYoung's sound creation the "ARF 2600" was given its world premiere at the opening of The 101 Dalmatians Musical in Minneapolis, MN.

In 2010, DeYoung formed a new rock band dedicated to the music of Styx featuring new members guitarist and lead vocalist August Zadra and bass player and vocalist Craig Carter. They joined with John Blasucci, Jimmy Leahey, Tom Sharpe and Suzanne DeYoung in performing Styx hits including "Renegade", "Blue Collar Man" and others as well as DeYoung's solo works.

As of 2012^[update] DeYoung continues to tour the world with his symphonic shows, rock band shows and acoustic shows.

Discography[link]

Styx[link]

Studio albums[link]

• Styx (1972)
• Styx II (1973)
• The Serpent Is Rising (1973)
• Man of Miracles (1974)
• Equinox (1975)
• Crystal Ball (1976)
• The Grand Illusion (1977)
• Pieces of Eight (1978)
• Cornerstone (1979)
• Paradise Theatre (1981)
• Kilroy Was Here (1983)
• Edge of the Century (1990)
• Brave New World (1999)

Live albums[link]

• Caught in the Act (1984)
• Return to Paradise (1997)

Compilation albums[link]

• Best of Styx (1980)
• Styx Classics Volume 15 (1987)
• Styx Greatest Hits (1995)
• Styx Greatest Hits Part 2 (1996)
• Come Sail Away - The Styx Anthology (2004)
• The Complete Wooden Nickel Recordings (2005)

Solo[link]

Studio albums[link]

• Desert Moon (1984)
• Back to the World (1986)
• Boomchild (1989)
• 10 on Broadway (1994)
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1998)
• One Hundred Years from Now (2007/2009)

Live albums[link]

• The Music of Styx - Live with Symphony Orchestra (2004)

Compilation albums[link]

• The Ultimate Collection (1999)

Video[link]

• Caught in the Act (1984)
• Return to Paradise (1997)
• Dennis DeYoung - Soundstage (2003)
• Symphonic Rock Music of Styx (2003)
• The Best of Styx - 20th Century Masters (2004)
• The Best of Dennis DeYoung - 20th Century Masters (2005)

Other appearances[link]

Music written by DeYoung has been featured in the following films:

• Kilroy Was Here (1983)
• The Karate Kid, Part II (1986)
• The Virgin Suicides (1999)
• Big Daddy (1999)
• Detroit Rock City (1999)
• Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)
• Shrek 2 (2004)
• The Perfect Man (2005)

Music either written by DeYoung or performed by him has been featured in the following stage productions:

• "Pilate and Jesus" (Jesus Christ Superstar) (1993) (Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber; Lyrics: Tim Rice)
• "Pilate's Dream" (Jesus Christ Superstar) (1993) (Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber; Lyrics: Tim Rice)

The debut of The Hunchback of Notre Dame in May 2008 brought DeYoung's music and songs to the theatrical stage, finally made its stage debut in Chicago, Illinois in May 2008.

Music written by DeYoung has also been featured in television shows and commercials. Among the more notable are:

• The Simpsons
• My Name is Earl
• Arrested Development
• That '70s Show
• Freaks and Geeks
• Dharma and Greg
• ER
• Chuck
• King of Queens
• Sex and the City
• South Park
• Family Guy
• Atlantis: The Lost Empire
• The Office
• It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

References[link]

External links[link]

• Dennis DeYoung official website
• Dennis DeYoung at the Internet Movie Database
• Dennis DeYoung fan site
• Interview with Dennis DeYoung
• Interview with Chuck Panazzo on Styx reunion