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ABOUT DENNIS > >
A
BIOGRAPHY
Dennis
Dragon was born one of five children to Hollywood symphony conductor /
orchestrator, Carmen Dragon and his wife, soprano singer Eloise. At the
age of five, he was "bangin on the drums" with brothers
Doug and Daryl at the keys. Shortly after that, piano lessons were introduced
to help round out Dennis musical abilities.
From an early age, Dennis played in various bands. One of the first bands
Dennis played in, "The Malibu Music Men plus One," featured
a very young Natalie Cole as lead vocalist . His first "paying gig"
was at age twelve, where he and his two brothers performed at a wedding
reception. For the next thirty years, Dennis played professionally as
drummer and percussionist from bars to studios to large-scale concerts.
Some of the more notable bands he has played with on the road and in the
studio have been The Beach Boys, The Byrds, The Captain
& Tennille (his brother Daryl is "The Captain"), Neil
Young, Rick Springfield, and many others.
At a recording session at Capitol Records with his brothers in the early
sixties, Dennis became interested in the technical process of recording
and pursued the art of audio engineering. He began recording at home,
collecting microphones and audio gear. Before long, he was recording song
demos and soundtracks for action sports films.
He and his brother Daryl produced over thirty soundtracks in his Malibu
bedroom!
PRO AUDIO RECORDING:
In the mid-seventies, he got a call from his brother Daryl to engineer
the first Captain & Tennille record at A&M Records. The result
was a long string of hits and a Grammy award for "Love Will Keep
Us Together," Record of the Year, 1975. This opened the door to professional
audio engineering/producing gigs for many years to follow, and Dennis
found himself working with the likes of Lou Adler, Carole King, Johnny
Rivers, Cheech and Chong and many more. He opened up his own recording
studio in Malibu and was "booked solid."
PRO VIDEO PRODUCTION:
Around this time Dennis also tackled video. He began shooting and editing
industrial videos, music videos and commercials. In 1976, he formed the
zany rock band "The Surf Punks" and utilized all his talents
simultaneously. He produced, engineered, drummed, sang, wrote tunes and
produced videos for the band. The group was signed to Epic Records in
1980 and had a "wild" ten year run!
Throughout the eighties to the present, he has been in and out of audio
and video studios, producing records, videos and soundtracks. In 1994
he co-created, produced and directed the music television show "Locals
Only". Featuring up and coming live talent from the West Coast,
the show is currently broadcasting in Santa Barbara, the Bay Area and
Seattle on Fox and UPN.
Dennis looks forward to the future of combining music, television, and
the internet with a creative vengeance!
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