Dennis Elliott

Dennis Leslie Elliott (born 18 August 1950 ) 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.

Life and career Dennis Leslie Elliott was born in Peckham, London. He 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 2 March 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.

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. He officially left in January 1993.

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

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

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 1970: If 1970: If 2 1971: If 3 1972: If 4 1972: Waterfall 1995: Forgotten Roads: The Best of If 1997: Europe '72 2010: Fibonacci's Number - More Live If 2012: If 2 + Live in Liverpool

The Roy Young Band 1973: "Back Up Train" (single) 1973: "Devil's Daughter" (single) 1973: "Dig a Hole" (single) 1973: "If You Could Only See Me Now" (single) 2009: The Best of 50 Years (album)

Tony Ashton and Jon Lord 1974: First of the Big Bands

Ian Hunter 1975: Ian Hunter 1977: Overnight Angels

Foreigner 1977: Foreigner (#4 US) 1978: Double Vision (#3 US, #32 UK) 1979: Head Games (#5 US) 1981: 4 (#1 US, #5 UK) 1982: Records (#10 US, #58 UK) 1984: Agent Provocateur (#4 US, #1 UK) 1987: Inside Information (#15 US, #64 UK) 1991: Unusual Heat 1992: The Very Best ... and Beyond (#123 US, #19 UK) 1993: Classic Hits Live/Best of Live 1994: JukeBox Heroes: The Best Of 1998: The Best of Ballads– I Want to Know What Love Is 1999: The Platinum Collection 2000: Hot Blooded and Other Hits 2000: Jukebox Heroes: The Foreigner Anthology 2002: Complete Greatest Hits (#80 US) 2002: The Definitive (#33 UK) 2004: Hot Blooded and Other Hits 2005: The Essentials 2008: No End in Sight: The Very Best of Foreigner (#132 US) 2009: Can't Slow Down (#29 US) Note: A different drummer plays on original material (first disc) 2014: The Complete Atlantic Studio Albums 1977-1991

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 The Gregg Museum of Art & Design, NC State University - Raleigh, NC 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 of Art - Ann Arbor, Michigan

Special collections Columbia Pictures, Star Trek Voyager set - Wall Sculpture - Bleached Maple Burl