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A native of Staten Island, New York, Dennis says one of his earliest memories is seeing The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964. He was two years old. With their music in his head, he began playing the guitar at the age of nine. By the time he was a teenager, he was already in a band and playing locally. During the formative 70’s, Dennis was influenced not only by the Beatles, but others such as Cream, The Who, Jeff Beck, and much later, Stevie Ray Vaughn. The turning point he says, was
“When I first heard the opening notes of Eric Clapton’s Let It Rain. “I had a bass in my hands. I put the bass down”.
It is to Eric Clapton that Dennis gives total credit for influencing the bluesy style that would eventually become his trademark. He has said, “I wouldn’t be a musician if it weren’t for the Beatles, and I wouldn’t be a guitar player if it weren’t for Clapton”. Dennis played with several bands during the 80’s and 90’s, most notably fronting a Clapton tribute band called The Journeymen for two years before relocating to New Jersey in 1994. In 1999, he formed Bluesday, which gained popularity along the Jersey shore Blues circuit. Dennis departed Bluesday to pursue an original Blues project, forming The Dennis Peters Band, in early 2005 with his old friend and bandmate, Russ Deinstadt and new friend Tom Kirchner.
Dennis uses Fender Stratocasters, Taylor and Gibson acoustic guitars and Fender amps.