Alumni Story

“I had set in my mind that I wasn’t going to go to college,” Dennis says. He thought, “I’m a musician, I don’t need to do that.”  He grew up surrounded by music in the church; his mom was in the choir. He started directing choirs at age ten.

An unexpected road trip changed his mind about college. “My dad woke me up one Saturday morning and said, ‘Go for a ride with me.’ He didn’t say where we were going. We went to visit a few colleges. Something about Catawba felt right for me.” Dennis recalls, “I liked that it was a smaller community, and music professor Dr. Fish was building ADP then, the Artist Development Program.”

Catawba was near home. Dennis was already a working musician. “Coming home to gig was very important to me.” He went home a lot of weekends to work.

He appreciates the opportunities he had at Catawba. “Catawba recognizes the unique greatness of every student and allows space for that to be cultivated. They give you freedom to build, to create, and evolve on campus,” Dennis shares an example of that: the gospel choir. “Catawba allowed me to start one, and after graduation, I was an adjunct professor, directing it.” He adds, “Catawba allows you to do you. Catawba values tradition, and it also values innovation.” The gospel choir he founded continues to thrive: “I’m so happy that Destiny, one of my students, is leading the charge,” he enthuses about alumna Destiny Stone’s current leadership as Director of the Catawba Gospel Choir.

He remembers working on his album “Water Walker” as a student, how Catawba got behind it with a CD release party and selling the CDs in the campus bookstore. Hoke Hall wasn’t yet converted into a music space at that time, Dennis recalls. “The first recording studio was set up in one of the practice rooms in the music building by Dr. Fish. We had to stop recording anytime anyone used the elevator,” he laughs.

Dennis explains his decision to major in music business. “I love music production, but you have to know the business of music. What I love was you can do music business, or you can do music business,” he explains, shifting the emphasis. Passion is important in music but knowing the business matters.

A smile lights his voice when talking about his life in music. “I’m too far to swim back to the shore. Too far to quit. But it’s so rewarding. It’s what I pray for, to align with your purpose and then you’re aligned with the divine.” That doesn’t mean everything is easy. “There are ups and downs, highs and lows, operating in God’s purpose. There’s a feeling of freedom.”

He sees God’s hand at work in his life. “Talented and gifted is not enough for some of these amazing opportunities that have come my way. The John Lennon songwriting competition: thousands enter, and my song wins?” he says in wonder, recalling his first-place win from 1200 entries in the 2006 BMI Foundation competition. God doesn’t do everything for you, Dennis points out. “You still have to take the first steps, be creative, submit your work.”

Dennis went on to develop the gospel choir GAP and Inspire the Fire (ITF), a program for ages ten through twenty-one designed to promote positive change through faith, fun, and the arts. Inspire the Fire competed on America’s Got Talent in 2011. Dennis adds, “Inspire the Fire is now twenty-two years old.” For his impact in these and other ways, Dennis was honored in 2016 with Catawba’s Distinguished Alumnus Award.

Then came SAINTED.

“SAINTED happened when I had this idea: ‘What would happen if we put our gospel choir on hip-hop songs and everyday songs?’ I hadn’t seen anyone do a choir. I approached DJ Fannie Mae in Charlotte about it, she had an amazing following. She loved the idea. She had a date at Live Nation right before COVID hit, and SAINTED did the show, it was a sold-out event. Through the pandemic we found creative ways to keep going with the group.”

Then came America’s Got Talent. Again.

“Last year Fannie got a DM [direct message] on Instagram from one of the producers of AGT. They saw us with rapper Rick Ross and asked if we would do our own stand-alone set. Fannie calls me up and asks me, and I said absolutely not!” He’d done AGT before.

But Dennis changed his mind. “I had a conversation with that AGT producer. She had a different vision, she got it, she was a PK – a preacher’s kid - and an artist, she wanted to shine a light on black talent.”

SAINTED did season eighteen on America’s Got Talent. “That changed our life,” Dennis explains. “It’s a whirlwind of creativity, high intensity,” he sums up the AGT experience: “It’s a bootcamp for greatness.”

The best part of being on AGT: Fantasy League. “You get a chance to dream big, and nine times out of ten the show helps you make that happen or even challenges you to dream bigger, working with the best music arrangers, choreographers, and production. It’s an amazing and rewarding experience, to create something and get exposure at this level.” About the other performers, he adds, “It’s all this amazing talent from all over.”

Describing being on Simon Cowell’s Fantasy League team, Dennis exclaims, “Never in a million years did I think I’d be on his team, to be one of his personal favorites, and have him working behind the scenes for you.” Simon went to bat to obtain rights for SAINTED to perform Prince’s “Purple Rain” on the show, receiving last minute approval from Prince’s estate. The group’s outstanding rendition garnered rave reviews from all four AGT judges and the coveted “Golden Buzzer.”

The challenging part of “AGT: Fantasy League” is multitasking. Dennis points out that he and the group members are still working outside of the show. They’re not paid to be on it. “You still have bills. You can be on TV and still be broke!” he laughs. On top of that challenge, “It’s not just working nine-to-five, and putting your all-in-all out there, but then America may not vote in your favor.” He recalls that Inspire the Fire lost AGT to a dog act. “But the good definitely outweighs the bad, if you have a performance that you can stand on, no matter how the vote goes.”

Dennis stays busy. Those who watched the 2024 Grammys heard his work; he was involved in the arrangement of the Tina Turner tribute performed by Fantasia. And those who watched the recent Super Bowl LVIII heard his arrangement of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” performed by Andra Day.

Dennis’ life is not entirely music. “Music is my job and my hobby. I stay in the gym to keep my health in a certain place. I love to travel. My fiancée works for the NBA, and I get to travel with her.”

He has empowering words of encouragement for Catawba students:

Go all in.

Make your mark.

Don’t shrink back.

You’re in a place that cultivates greatness.