Towards the end of a Cleveland summer day on the 28th of June in 1949, David Wesley and Irene Alma Carleton proudly announced the birth of their new son, Dennis. The young family now boasted six members, two of which were Denny's sisters and one was his brother.

His early years were focused on getting a solid Catholic education from schools like Holy Cross, Immaculate Conception and St. Joseph's High School (now VA St. Joe 's). Here is what Denny says about his life from about ages 5 to 10 ...

"I was raised by two great parents. Growing up on Monterey Ave in the North Collinwood section of East 185th St. area, which is in Cleveland, Ohio, except for a few events, I had a rather uneventful childhood. According to my mom, my first word was Jesus. Why I don't know, but that's what she told me.

My dad was a working man, a blue collar worker who worked hard and slept just enough to keep up his energy, then got up the next day to go back and start the whole cycle again. My mother raised four small children, budgeting the household money and cutting out coupons. She was so good at, it that I never realized that I was poor until I went to Cuyahoga Community College at age 18; one day while I was studying Sociology I said, 'hmmm...lower middle class - that's me.'

I can recall when my mother said that she wanted to watch a brand new entertainer who she liked a lot - his name was Elvis Presley.. I remember watching him and liking his performances.

It is very strange, but it seems that for my whole life I have been on the same path, anxiously waiting to see its destination and fulfillment. Some of my earliest influences were spirituality as well as music, and to this day spirituality and music still push me on.

One vivid memory I have is about my sisters and brothers (who were between 5 and 10 years older than me) coming into the living room and dancing the jitterbug to all the popular songs of the time. I fell in love with Jim Dandy To the Rescue by Laverne Baker, That's My Desire by Smokey Joe's Cafe, artists like Clyde Mcphatter and many others. I often played DJ while the kids danced.

A near tragedy occurred somewhere between the ages of 5 and 6. My sister was playing in my dad's car and I was on my bike wanting to get her attention. I kept leaning on my bike wanting to talk to her. For some reason the car fell out of gear, went into neutral went backward knocking me off of my bike, proceededing to run over my legs. That hurt! I hate when that happens! As I lay screaming, I managed to look up to see what seemed like slow motion as the car ultimately smashed into the mailbox at the end of the driveway. My parents came running out, panicked! My dad or mom grabbed me and rushed me to the hospital. My legs were totally black and blue - a real mess.

The doctor looked concerned but after he ran a test, he said that it was a miracle that not one bone was broken. I was released to go home with the instructions that I was supposed to walk for exercise. My mom would motivate me to walk by promising candy and treats if I would walk from Holy Cross to Monterey (about a mile).There seems like there should be more to that story, but that's it and I have never had any problems from being run over by a car since. Thank God.

I began to attend kindergarten and quit half way through because some of the kids got to play on the monkey bars and wouldn't let me. I was too young to know about asserting my rights, so I dropped out of school until the first grade, when I attended Holy Cross. Basically I was a happy kid with every baseball card known to man. I often tell younger people that my generation had no idea baseball cards would be worth a lot of money some day. We were sort of the Neanderthal man or Caveman when it came to collector-consciousness and evolution.
Cleveland Indian,
Jimmy Piersall

We put the cards in the spoke of our tires on our bikes, and flipped them against the wall. We traded valuable Mickey Mantles and Hank Aarons for Cleveland Indians with names like Willy Tasby or Willie Kirkland. When I grew tired of collecting having outgrown it. I gave all my 1950-1960 cards to my nephew who also outgrew that phase and threw them away; we're talking Mickey Mantle cards here, boys and girls!! We're talking big American $$$$!

At the age of 7, my dad got laid off from his job which resulted in a very stressful time for the family. My mom was nervous and my was dad down, so I began to escape into a creative world that I have never left. I began to write short stories and little newspapers. I invented games and even reviewed art work. I wrote a letter to my mother that some day I would give her a priest; I'm not sure if that meant to get to a know priest and capture him and bring them to the house or become one..I think I thought that I would become a priest. When I saw the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, I bought a guitar, took music lessons and all that changed .."

Denny with his
first guitar This was the very first indication of any musical desires and came it was at the age of 14 when Denny saw the Beatles
Lost Souls on the Ed Sullivan Show and became hooked. Soon after, he began learning the guitar and he let his hair grow long. With the new crop came some new hassles, since long hair was not accepted as normal back then. His very first band was called The Lost Souls which was followed by The Choir [more] (It's Cold Outside), then Moses. It was during this time he began testing another skill, which was that of a songwriter.