It was Dennis DeYoung who wrote and sang the hit songs that made Chicago rock band Styx a multi-million selling phenomenon in the ’70s and early ’80s.
His winning way with a piano-led power ballad had him nicknamed ‘the Manilow of metal’.
DeYoung’s songs Lady, Come Sail Away and The Best Of Times all made the US top 10, while the 1979 track Babe went all the way to No.1.
But after a couple of break-ups and reunions, DeYoung left Styx in 1999, never to return.
The remaining members of the band — led by guitarists Tommy Shaw and James ‘J.Y.’ Young — have steadfastly refused to reunite with DeYoung for one last tour.
In 2021, DeYoung spoke to Classic Rock about those great songs and his desire to rejoin Styx — and explained why, at the age of 74, his solo album 26 East Vol 2 was his last act as a recording artist.
“I’ve had a great career,” he said. “I gave it my best shot, and I always did.
“I’ve always been so neurotic and consumed with being the best I can, and it’s made me successful and miserable at the same time.
“I grew up in the greatest time in the history of mankind to be a musician. But now, the music business is shite.
“Do I have to explain this to you? I don’t think so. The change is not in me. The change is in the culture.
“The deck is heavily stacked against people in rock music, and particularly old farts like myself.”
He clarified: “I’m not retiring. And if the spirit moves me I might write a song from time to time and put it out through Apple or whoever the local robber baron is.
“But I’m not going to go through the tortuous effort of making a complete album again, because my audience will go: ‘Hey, that’s nice, Dennis’, pat me on the head and then say: ‘Please play Come Sail Away.’
“This is a fact for all classic rockers,” he said. “The people who still support us are emotionally bound to the music of their youth, which is true of all generations.”
He named his top three Styx albums as Equinox (1975), The Grand Illusion (1977) and Paradise Theatre (1981).
“But of course The Grand Illusion is our best album,” he said. “Anyone who wants to argue about it, don’t come to my door. I’ll make them look silly!”
Lady was the band’s breakthrough hit, originally released in 1973 on the album Styx II but re-released two years later to great success.
“Everything changed when Lady was a hit,” DeYoung said. “It was the first song I ever wrote, and when we put it on the second album nobody at radio played it. But later it became a hit, and then it was, ‘They like me!’
“So I took the reins in Styx,” he recalled. “I was the guy who said, ‘This is the way to go, follow me, and if I screw up just hit me over the head with a shovel and bury me.’”
With DeYoung leading the way, Styx had what he describes as “a wonderful run”.
All of those hit ballads were inspired by the same woman — DeYoung’s wife Suzanne.
“When we met, she was 15 and I was 17,” he said. “It’s the only love we’ve ever known.
“What I didn’t understand when I was writing those songs is that there are a number of people in the world who absolutely hate romantic ballads and slam what they call the mushiness, the cheesiness, the treacle. And you know what I say to those people? ‘Fuck off!’
“Well, maybe I shouldn’t say fuck off to these people, it’s just their personal taste.
“But here’s my definition of songwriting. I started out as a kid with an accordion, dreaming. I’m a melody man in a rhythm age. All I ever wanted to do was find some chords and attach lyrics to them and then give you my point of view, hoping that you find yourself in my story.
“That’s what songwriting is. And inclusive in that is my relationship with the love of my life. So I don’t want to feel like I have to apologise for that, because when you’re lying on your deathbed, love is the only thing that matters.”
As for his departure from Styx, and his attempts at reconciliation, he said: “I’ve tried, in vain, to be in that band from the moment they replaced me.
“In the beginning it was my band, my idea, but now it’s really Tommy Shaw’s band.
“I’ve said that we should do one last tour together, for those people who made us rich men. They know I’m ready to do it. And recently it was floated as a possibility. But Tommy Shaw was the only one who spoke, and he said no.”
Tommy Shaw had commented about the glory days of Styx and said of DeYoung: “In retrospect, we weren’t even happy working with each other in our heyday.”
DeYoung responded: “Let me tell you, all this stuff they said about me was the biggest exaggerated bunch of lies I’ve ever seen in my life.
“We liked each other. We never had a punch-up. We never screamed at each other. We weren’t those guys. We made music together.
“So when you cast aspersions — not only on my musical contributions, but also on my character — it’s been the greatest heartbreak in my career.
He added: “I can’t think of a band that’s worked harder than Styx at diminishing its own reputation, and to denigrate the music that we created together. And it serves no purpose.
“Our fans loved us because what we did musically was very uplifting and positive. That’s what we stood for. And to harm that in any way is insane.
“Not to give the fans one last glimpse of us together on stage, it makes no sense to me,” he said. “And I know that all Styx fans would want to see that one more time.
“But look, this is not about me, it’s not about money — it’s to relive, and reinforce, what lucky sonofabitches we were to find each other. And show the people that we appreciate what you’ve done for us. I’m sick over the fact that we can’t do it one more time, but what am I going to do? I just can’t for the life of me understand it.”
