Ex-Styx Singer Talks About "First Time"



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 20, 2009





Former Styx vocalist Dennis DeYoung hasn't played with the
multi-platinum rock group he co- founded as a teenager in more than
ten years, but he still makes his living mostly from playing his old
Styx hits. DeYoung performs his classic hits like "Lady",
"Come Sail Away", "Mr. Roboto", "The Best of
Times" and "Show Me The Way" in concert to appreciative
audiences, but there's one song that the rocker looks back on as the one
that got away. In 1979, at the peak of Styx' success, DeYoung's ballad
"Babe" scored the group its only #1 hit, but instead of
following up with another DeYoung ballad, "First Time", Styx
instead chose a different direction, and "First Time" was never
released. DeYoung has performed the song very rarely since. In an
exclusive interview with Ron Stevens of www.ddytalk.com
<http://www.ddytalk.com/> , DeYoung recently lamented what might have
been.



"When it comes to that particular song, that was a terrible
mistake," the singer maintains. "Here's my theory: If 'First
Time' had been released, it would have been absolutely, unquestionably,
a top 3 single. Which meant at that time that Cornerstone would have
sold another 4 to 500,000 albums, `cause we were the biggest band in
America. And Cornerstone might have sold 4 million copies—or more.
That's how not releasing that turned the tables on that record."



Since 1999 Dennis DeYoung has carved out a solo career performing
the music he created with Styx in concert, as well as releasing new
albums. His latest album 100 Years From Now was a hit in Canada; its
title song reached #1 in Quebec, and DeYoung is cautiously optimistic
about its chances in the US. "You know, I'm just happy that I
have a record company that is going to release the record and give me
some visibility, and allow me the opportunity to be heard by
somebody," he says. "But beyond that I think you can't
really have expectations anymore in the current culture of radio and TV.
It's not really geared for people who are over 60 years old, to say
the least. It's not even geared for people over 40."



Rounder Records will release 100 Years From Now on April 14th. The US
release contains two additional tracks, "Private Jones" and
"There Was A Time". Read the entire Dennis DeYoung interview or
listen to the audio file at www.ddytalk.com <http://www.ddytalk.com/>





Contact:

Ron Stevens

(610) 952-8910

Ron@...





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