Dennis Elliott

Dennis Leslie Elliott (born 18 August 1950,[1][2] Peckham, London) is a British musician and artist, who was the original drummer for the rock band, Foreigner. He played with the band from 1976 until leaving between 1991 and 1993. He went on to become a sculptor.

Dennis Elliott
Elliott performing with Foreigner in 1977
Background information
Birth nameDennis Leslie Eliott
Born (1950-08-18) 18 August 1950
Peckham, London, England
OriginHanckey, London, England
InstrumentsDrums
Years active1969–present
Associated actsForeigner, If, Spooky Tooth

Life and career

Dennis Leslie Elliott played the drums with his family band at age five in shows around London. As a teenager, he joined The Tea Set with his older brother Raymond, who sang and played trumpet. After The Tea Set, he became a member of The Shevelles at age sixteen. At eighteen, he played in the band Ferris Wheel and on their album of the same name. When he was nineteen, Dennis joined the jazz/rock band If and recorded four LPs with the ensemble. They continually toured Europe and the US, where he met and later married Iona Elliott on March 2, 1972. Later that year, Dennis joined The Roy Young Band, touring the UK and Europe and recording four singles with that band over the following year.

Elliott with Maple Burl Wall Sculpture & Vessels.

In 1974, Elliott toured and played on former Mott the Hoople lead singer Ian Hunter's first solo recording, Ian Hunter. After emigrating to the US in April 1975, he became a US Resident Alien.

He was the original drummer for Foreigner when the band started in 1976.[3][4] He officially left in January 1993.

After leaving the music industry, Elliott turned to sculpture, working mainly in the medium of wood.[5] Self-taught, many of his works have been vessels made of burlwood, sculpted wall mirrors, wall sculptures, and orbital sculptures.[6]

On June 2, 1990, Elliott and his wife, Iona, were rescued by the US Coast Guard after jumping from their yacht Charisma III, which had caught fire.[7] Elliott became a US citizen in 1993.[6]

On January 9, 2013, he joined Foreigner on stage at the Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Florida to perform "Hot Blooded". On January 12, 2015 in Sarasota, Florida, Foreigner were joined on stage by original drummer Elliott and former bassist Rick Wills to play "Hot Blooded". Elliott joined his old mates for two songs at Foreigner's show on August 2, 2017 at MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheater in Tampa, Florida. A pair of '40th Anniversary Reunion Shows’ took place on October 6–7, 2017, at the Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, where the current Foreigner group played one set and the original members consisting of the Head Games-era lineup: Mick Jones, Lou Gramm, Dennis Elliott, Al Greenwood, Ian McDonald and Rick Wills, played the second set and were rejoined at the end with all members. The concerts were filmed for future release.

On August 4, 2018, Elliott again joined a ‘Reunion Show’ at the Buffalo Chip in Sturgis, South Dakota, where the current Foreigner group played one set and the original members played the second and all joined together for the finale.

Discography

The Shevells
  • 1968: Big City Lights /The Coffee Song (single)

The Ferris Wheel
  • 1970: Ferris Wheel (album)
  • 1970: Can't Stop Now / I Know You Well (UK single)
  • 1970: Ugly Duckling / I Know You Well (US single)

IF

The Roy Young Band

Tony Ashton and Jon Lord

Ian Hunter

Foreigner

Ian Lloyd
  • 1980: Third Wave Civilization

Mick Jones
  • 1989: Just Wanna Hold (single) (#19 US Rock)
  • 1989: Mick Jones (album)

Museum collections
  • Arkansas Art Center, Decorative Arts Museum - Little Rock, Arkansas
  • Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, TX
  • The Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts - Racine, Wisconsin
  • Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio
  • The Contemporary Museum of Art - Honolulu, Hawaii
  • Craft & Folk Art Museum - Los Angeles, California
  • The Detroit Institute of Arts - Detroit, Michigan
  • Fuller Craft Museum - Brockton, Massachusetts
  • Honolulu Museum of Art, Honolulu, HI
  • Los Angeles County Museum of Art - Los Angeles, California
  • The Mabel Brady Garven Collection, Yale University Art Gallery - New Haven, Connecticut
  • The Mint Museum of Craft & Design - Charlotte, North Carolina
  • Mobile Museum of Art, (formerly, Fine Arts Museum of the South) - Mobile, Alabama
  • Museum of Arts & Design, formerly The American Craft Museum - New York, New York
  • Museum of Fine Arts - Boston, Massachusetts
  • Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts
  • Racine Art Museum, Racine, Wisconsin
  • Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum - Washington, D.C.
  • The Slater Museum - Norwich, Connecticut
  • University of Michigan Museum - Ann Arbor, Michigan

Special collections
  • Columbia Pictures, Star Trek Voyager set - Wall Sculpture - Bleached Maple Burl
gollark: Also, oh wow, S&R is very busy right now.
gollark: We must reduce AP times; but how?!
gollark: I have a few lying around.
gollark: How many hatchlings do you want, anyway?
gollark: Maybe I could bring my hatchery back as a thing specifically for ERs.

References
  1. "Today in history". The New York Times. Associated Press. 18 August 2014. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  2. "Dennis Elliot". Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 10 July 2007.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link), Ezrock.com
  3. Gloss, Megan (18 May 2012). "They've been 'Juke Box Heroes'". Telegraph Herald. Dubuque, IA. Retrieved 18 August 2014 – via Questia Online Library.
  4. Stemkovsky, Ilya (1 August 2010). "Jason Sutter". Modern Drummer. Archived from the original on 21 September 2014. Retrieved 18 August 2014 – via HighBeam Research.
  5. Pandolfi, Keith (1 November 2003). "After three decades spent banging out songs such as 'Hot Blooded' and 'Urgent,' former Foreigner drummer Dennis Elliott left rock'n'roll to pursue his real passion—woodworking". Art Business News. Archived from the original on 21 September 2014. Retrieved 18 August 2014 – via HighBeam Research.
  6. "Biography for Dennis Elliott", Askart.com
  7. "Musician, wife go overboard as yacht burns". Chicago Sun-Times. 4 June 1990. Archived from the original on 21 September 2014. Retrieved 18 August 2014 – via HighBeam Research.
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