Tamden Mind And Body

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About Denny Lee

Tamden Records

About Denny

I was born Dennis Lee Frey on October 27th, 1945 in Marshfield Wisconsin. My dad loved Hank Williams, Frankie Yankovic, Pasty Cline, Ernest Tubb, Gene Autry, Glenn Miller, Guy Lombardo, Eddie Arnold, Jim Reeves and Lawrence Welk. Of course this isn't the complete list, but you get the idea. When Elvis came along, my dad simply stated that he had a beautiful voice.While dad was growing up he met my mother, Marylueretta Owens. But now dad had a problem. He loved to sing and while he was growing up he had his brother Elmer to play accordion for him and he could sing all he wanted to. But now enter marriage. Big problem. Elmer was gone. Well dad had a remedy. His first born which was me, he decided, not I, but he decided that I was going to learn how to play so he could sing along.I started to learn how to play the accordion at six years old. I didn't say I liked it. In fact if you look in the photo section of my website you're going to see a picture of me when I was seven years old with tears running down both sides of my cheeks. That didn't get me anywhere. I was destined to play the accordion.As time went on I did learn to play the accordion and the piano and the organ and the clarinet and the trumpet and the tuba and the guitar. I also learned how to play in front of audiences at a very early age. I had my first professional job at 14 years old playing for a dealer show in Louisville Kentucky. My dad was one third owner of a mobile home manufacturing facility called Rollohome Corporation. Every year in January they would show their homes at the national mobile home show held in Louisville at the fairgrounds. Every year I was trucked down to perform for the dealers. I'd play for hours and hours on end without a break. I mean like up to eight hours some nights.By the time I was 14 I had learned to play all of the old standards like all of Yankovic's polkas and waltzes, and all of Gene Autry's songs and all of Guy Lombardo and Wayne King and the list went on and on. By the time I was 16 was able to play over 5000 songs. People that I entertained for got a big kick out of trying to stump the entertainer. At that young age, I was able to play polkas, waltzes, foxtrots, ragtime, country, rhythm & blues, gospel and just about any kind of music with the exception of what I should have been playing, rock and roll. Believe it or not, I never really got acquainted with rock and roll until I was in college. Anyway I entertained at the National mobile home show until I was 25 years old.Through my dad and his mobile home company I had lots of opportunities to entertain. At the ripe old age of 12 I won my first of many talent contests playing my accordion and singing. My first contest was over in Neillsville, Wisconsin and I performed Red Foley's Old Shep. Little did I know at the time that a man named Elvis Presley also recorded and had a hit with Old Shep. There wasn't a dry eye in the crowd when I did Old Shep. The reason I did the song in the first place is because my dad loved the song.In those days, we as a family would do a lot of things together. We'd get in the car and drive where ever and have a picnic. On the way dad would sing and we'd listen. One of his favorite songs to sing on the way to where ever, would be Old Shep. That's how i learned Old Shep. It may be unusual but I didn't show my musical talents except in the school band while I was in high school. There were very few people besides older people that even knew I played an accordion or piano much less that I wrote songs. I remember when I was introduced to Buddy Holly.I was asked to come and practice with a group of college musicians and while we were sitting there talking about music in general, Bill Davis asked me if I could do any Buddy Holly. I asked him who is Buddy Holly? The whole group stared at me in disbelief. I explained to them that I didn't know much about this thing called Rock And Roll. I had been brought up on Polka's and Waltzes and foxtrots and basically old time music.Until college I had led a pretty sheltered life. My dad and mother insisted that I was in bed during school nights till I was a sophomore in high school at 7:30. On weekends like Friday and Saturday nights I got to stay up till 9 o'clock. School work was not done by sitting with a radio playing. We were allowed to watch television on Monday night only if we had our school work and our chores done. The show? Disneyland. After Disneyland it was off to bed. Dad ran a tight ship. We were allowed to watch one other show on Saturday nights and that was the show that dad loved, Gunsmoke.After I was allowed to stay up later than 7:30 on weekdays and 9:00 on weekends I tried to make up for lost time. Mom and dad threw a lot of parties at the house for my class of 1963. However, most of the class didn't know the rules that mom and dad kept us under.When I got my license at 16 I was given still more freedom, but there again I never really paid any attention to this thing called Rock And Roll. I was basically always an old time music lover.When I graduated from high school dad arranged for me to go into a recording studio and record some 45's. That was in 1963. We went to Milwaukee to a place called Dave Kennedy Recording Studios and did Judy's Clown and Cooly Mooly. Between all the road trips and interviews and performances we managed to sell 27,000 copies of that record. Dad had become a friend of a man that owned his own label called Owl Records out of Wausau Wisconsin and dad became part owner of Owl records. That is the label that I recorded on for two of my records. The third record in 1966 was on the Cuca Record label out of Sauk City Wisconsin and the fourth, (1970) was on the Age Of Aquarius label also out of Sauk City.At that time, just about every musician in the state of Wisconsin recorded sooner or later at Cuca Records. The studio was owned by a gentleman named Jim Kirchstien. That's where I recorded most of my songs in the 60's.Before entering the college scene I had this fairly big hit called Judy's Clown and Cooly Mooly. When I got into college Bill Davis was sitting with me in the practice room and he was listening to some of the things I was playing on the piano. He asked me if I would be interested in playing in a group called the Thunderbirds. I said yes. That was actually the start of my career in music playing rock and roll.The summer of 1963 found me working at my dad's mobile Home factory and my job was laying carpet in the houses. I then went into college in September of 1963 and there I started playing with a group known as the Thunderbirds. Bill Davis, from Wausau was the drummer, Jim Kodrowski (Stevens Point) was the rhythm man and electrician, Steve Norton, (Stevens Point) who was rumored to have done some things with Brenda Lee, was our lead vocalist, Ray Goddard from Sun Prairie was the lead guitarist and myself, from Marshfield, I was the keyboard man and did some vocals. The boys of the band thought that me being a recording artist would only help to get bookings. I'm not really sure whether that helped or not, but nonetheless, we were busy playing on the average about three nights a week.We started out as Denny Lee and the Fabulous Thunderbirds and later became just the Thunderbirds. We worked through a booking agent and we played places like The Attic in Milwaukee, The Prom in Green Bay, The Hollywood Resort in Fond Du Lac, The Rail in Oshkosh and local places like Rudy's And Phil's in Stevens Point. At the local places a couple of times we had Dave Dudley join us on stage as he sang a couple songs. Dave was about to embark on the national scene with his big truck driving hit, Six Days On The Road. The boys in the band were strangers to the country side of things so I led them whenever Dave would sing with us.We also backed Roy Orbison at a couple shows when he was playing the area. We stayed together for about a year and a half and then Jim's dad told Jim (Kedro as we called him) that he had to make a decision as to whether he wanted to become a doctor or a musician.Jim made the decision and we split the band. Bill Davis headed for the west coast and asked if I wanted to come along for the ride and I told Bill that I was going to go back home because I didn't think college was for me.

I went back home and went to work for my dad once again. Bill went to California and started a group out there called the Thunderbirds. It has been rumored that this is the same group that is backs The Beach Boys when they play.Other than Bill Davis, I can't really tell you what happened to the rest of the boys that started the Thunderbirds back in the fall of 1963. Bill went on to become a sportscaster for some TV station in Iowa. Jim, I was told went on to become a doctor like his dad and Ray went back to Sun Prairie and attended school at The University in Madison, and Steve spent time in jail for getting some young filly pregnant. That was the last report that I had in about 1969 when I got out of service.In 1964 I went back into the studio one more time and recorded a record with My Daddy b/w Diane. I never had the success with any of the records I turned out that I had with Judy's Clown and Cooly Mooly.Uncle Sam sent me an invitation in 1965 and after a few letters from him saying that my induction was delayed by 30 days I finally went into the service as regular army and spent 33 months playing soldier. I spent my service time in Fort Knox, Fort Monroe and Viet Nam. 13 months in Nam qualified me for an early out in November of 1969.In 1965, I went into the studios and recorded Fortune Teller and You Are The One. Jim Kirchstein financed the record and I really don't know how he did with the record. I have one copy of the record left out of the 100 that I ordered for myself. The song Fortune Teller was picked up by a Canadian group called the Hardtimes and they actually placed the song in the top 100 on Billboard for one week at number 97 in the year 1967.When I got stationed in Fort Monroe Virginia I worked on the base during the day and got a job working for Radio Station WTID in Hampton Virginia for awhile. I also played with Fred Newton and his Playboys a short time. In the spring of 1967 I met two gentlemen from the Strasburg area. That's The Shenandoah Valley area. These two gentlemen knew the late great Pasty Cline very well and from them I learned all about Pasty Cline. The two gentlemen owned and operated the Strasburg Hotel. I often said that if I were to relocate, it would probably be in Strasburg Virginia.In 1969 I teamed up with a man that not only became a close friend but also was my drummer and together we made a name for ourselves. We were known as Denny & Phil. His name is Phil Henline and he now resides in Chesapeake Bay Virginia. Small world. We still converse over the Internet and once in awhile we talk on the phone. Phil was from Medford where I now make my home. We played mostly in the Central Wisconsin area from 1969 through 1972. We were also the house band in a place that I was part owner of called The Different Drummer.In 1971 I became part owner with my cousin in a place called The Penthouse, which more often than not was referred to by us as The Spenthouse. We lost our butts in that place. It was a teenybopper place set up for kids. Boy was that a mistake.From the Penthouse I got married to one of the girls that came there all the time. That was my first marriage which lasted about four years and then we agreed to disagree and we went our separate ways.I opened a retail store in downtown Marshfield but didn't last very long because of the competition. I continued to work for my dad's company until it closed in 1982. When they closed the company in 1982 they had opened a factory for building Modular homes and they moved everything from the old plant to the new plant. Seeing they had all the draftsman and factory personnel they needed at the new plant I was laid off.In the meantime I was married again September 17th 1982. Shortly, I had a child on the way and on February 11th, 1984 my son Brandon was born. At the time this was all taking place in my life, I teamed up with my brother Mark and we became Ma Frey's Boys. We became the highest paid and most booked two piece in Central Wisconsin. We played together for about 11 years.I went back to work for my dad eventually when a drafting position opened up. I Worked until I was let go after my dad passed away and the factory was under new owners. Having a son and a wife that was handicapped didn't make life very easy. My wife had Multiple Sclerosis (more commonly known as MS) and she quit walking in 1995 right after I was fired from my job.I was able to fall back on entertaining getting a job at a local nightclub playing three nights a week. It wasn't much but it was better than what we had. Meanwhile my son got involved in computers and that was a big financial burden on an already tight budget. We eventually lost everything we had worked so hard for. We lost our $150,000 home because we couldn't make the payments. We lost our business and although we tried many things it just never seemed to work for us.As I said my wife is handicapped. I wouldn't normally include something like this but I want people to realize how difficult it is to deal with Handicapped individuals when they come your way...Here is Tammy's story:Tammy was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis six months after we tied the knot. I was working for myself in a cabinet business in our home out of our garage. I was manufacturing door and drawer fronts along with bathroom wall cabinets for my father's business Wisconsin Homes. The doctor that diagnosed Tammy with progressive MS with chronic pain was also a victim of the same disease.Unfortunately, he, unlike Tammy had no one to care for him after he went into needing care 24 hours a day 7 days a week. He passed away at a very young age. Tammy, after getting her news offered me a divorce and I said people get divorces because they don't like each other, not because they love each other. Her and I made the decision to hang in there and make the most out of what God brought us up to deal with.At first everything seemed to be OK and at first we continued to do things as a family. I eventually got a job working once again for my dad as a home designer and things just starting to come together when I lost my job at Wisconsin Homes. Three months after that day Tammy lost the use of her legs and the doctor told her it was because of stress. Living with someone that is disabled as Tammy was, presented a lot of stress and a lot of things that you would normally take for granted in your lifetime became a real challenge. Tammy was now at the point in her life where she needed 24 hour care 7 days a week. We tried things to make a living but it always seemed that we were a dollar short and a day late. We had put up a beautiful home in the country and it was everything we had wanted. The house and lot were appraised at $150,000. Things were going along in our life, but on the long end of the stick it was getting much shorter. Money was running out faster than we could bring it in.Tammy went on disability, but because she was not the bread-winner in our family she got about half of what I would have gotten had I been the disabled person. Now here was the situation. Tammy was getting about $600.00 a month for being 100% disabled and I was taking care of her. We tried to get help from Uncle Sam by getting some one in to the home to care for Tammy so I could go out and get a job. The government would not pay me to take care of her, but they would get someone in to care for her three days a week for four hours a day.When my wife quit walking she weighed in at about 120 pounds. Because she had no way to exercise, she just about overnight went from 120 pounds to 250 pounds. She started to retain water so the doctor, instead of putting her on a cath, prescribed water pills which made her go potty every two hours on the hour. Why wouldn't the doctors give her a catheter? Because she was too young. Meanwhile back at the ranch I had to be there every two hours to put her on the potty and to take her off again. And here is the real clincher. Anyone that the state would get in to take care of Tammy would not be allowed to do that kind of work with her.What all of this meant is that for seven years I had to be home taking care of Tammy. I could not go out and get a job no matter how bad we needed the money. We lost our home and everything we had worked for. After we lost our home Tammy and I decided that it was best for everyone if she went into a nursing home.A Little Information About My Work History:I've done just about every kind of work there is to do at one time or another in my life. To make a living I have painted houses, painted barns, painted portraits and painted outdoor scenes to include wildlife. I have also wood carved birds and animals and caricatures. I've painted outdoor signs, I've been a trophy manufacturer, done silk screening, designed mobile and modular homes for a living and have even sold real estate. I've also been a home decorator, a restaurant cook, dishwasher and manager. I've owned a couple of different bars, owned a teenybopper place, and three retail stores. I've been a woodworker building cabinets and children's playhouses, children's play equipment, storage buildings not to mention decks, garages and even houses. I've wood burned hundreds of items like portraits such as Elvis, Marlyn Monroe, The Three Stooges, John Wayne, Humphrey Bogart and Stix. I've made my living glass etching, both with chemical and hand, done some glass staining both with glass and mirrors, and I worked the county fairs, the flee markets with my son and wife trying to sell our products. Speaking of county fairs, I've also shown livestock, chickens, cows and horses, and I've entertained at county fairs. (My brother and myself had a local radio show.) I've also dabbled in jewelry making, mostly 14 karat gold filled stuff, done house remodeling, to include being a plumber and an electrician and owned and operated a vending route. And now at 61 years old I go back to my roots. I have always been a songwriter and a musician at heart so when the opportunity came I took advantage of it. I went back into the studio one more time to bring you this creation of 17 songs that I wrote. I hope you enjoy. One more thing. I've also been a traveler. I've seen and been in every state in the Union, been to China, Japan and Australia and of course Viet Nam. It's been a pretty full life and I've enjoyed most of it. But as you can see I've never been afraid to work.

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