Elgin computer programmer becomes Neil Diamond tribute artist

Two big breaks transformed one-time Elgin computer programmer Dennis Svehla into Denny Diamond, the Neil Diamond tribute artist finishing a gig on stage today in Las Vegas.

"I broke my leg the summer between eighth grade and high school - a bad slide into second base," says the 56-year-old Svehla. "I had nothing to do, and I discovered Neil Diamond."

That musical discovery paid off nearly three decades later in 2000 when Svehla performed Diamond's classic "America" on Dick Clark's TV talent show "Your Big Break." "They took my hair and coifed it up and put me in a sparkly outfit," Svehla remembers. "I came in second place behind a guy who did Barry White. I didn't mind that much."

After all, Svehla worked full-time as a computer programmer, and he and his wife, Janet, were raising sons Lucas and Spenser and daughter Sarah. Trained in operatic vocals and starring in high school musicals as a kid, Svehla was content to treat music as a fun hobby - until the night he was discovered.

"I was doing my karaoke spiel at a bar in Woodstock," Svehla says. Some Tennessee band members, having just finished a gig at the McHenry County Fair, stopped in because they wanted to see where the movie "Groundhog Day" was filmed.

"I was doing a little Neil Diamond," Svehla says. Band members were so impressed with Svehla's dead-on Diamond sound, they talked Svehla into joining them for shows in Nashville, where he starred in a band called "Denny Diamond and the Longfellows." Then came the TV appearance.

"I was getting letters from Germany. It started to snowball from there," says Svehla, who had to make a choice between a reliable career in computers or an iffy career in music. "It (music) was taking over, so I said, 'OK, let's give this a shot.'"

Today, Svehla sings at the finale of the four-day DiamondFest, a music and film festival at the Suncoast Casino in Las Vegas, which honors the 50th anniversary of 75-year-old Neil Diamond's professional musical career. Svehla also is one of 13 Neil Diamond tribute artists featured in a new documentary titled "Diamond Mountain," in which he sings the title song.

For the past 16 years, he's been on the road, singing 300 Diamond songs. Now performing with sons Lucas, 28, and Spenser, 26, Svehla's currently about halfway through an 88-city tour.

The trio played a show Friday night in Dickinson, North Dakota. Dennis Svehla flew to Vegas for DiamondFest and must fly back in time to perform Monday night in Lewistown, Montana.

"It is difficult, but having the audience participate helps," Lucas Svehla says of a tough schedule that saw them put 10,000 miles on their pickup truck pulling a trailer in the first half of the tour. But the Svehla men say they have fun.

"People realize I'm not a guy trying to be Neil Diamond," Dennis Svehla says. "I do a nice job singing his songs. I rarely wear a sparkly shirt. I don't look like Neil Diamond. People tell me I look like Tim Allen."

It's all about the music.

"I always wanted to be working in music. I never thought I'd be the guy up front singing. I thought I'd be the backup guy on the guitar," Dennis Svehla says.

He does play backup when he turns the show over to his sons.

"I do Johnny Cash, and together we cover a few Everly Brothers songs," says Spenser, who plays drums and bass, often at the same time with a drum stick in his right hand and his left hand on the guitar. Lucas plays lead guitar and sings songs by Buddy Holly and Glen Campbell.

"I guess we're tribute artists, but we're more family-oriented," the dad says. "The whole thing has taken a nice turn."

The sons say they've always appreciated songs written before they were born. Spenser says his girlfriend has to tell him about newer popular songs by artists such as Beyoncé or Jay-Z.

"I never really got into the hip-hop genre," Lucas adds. "Most of my iPod is classics and oldies."

Playing before crowds as small as 40 and as large as several thousand fans, the Svehlas perform the Neil Diamond classic "Sweet Caroline" at every concert.

"When you're lucky, people who really know Neil Diamond will ask for a deeper album cut and I get to sing something different," Dennis Svehla said.

"I'm shocked at the amount of young folks between 15 and 25 who will ask for the deeper-cut songs."

Dennis Svehla says he's seen more than 20 Neil Diamond concerts since his first in 1977 but has never met the pop legend.

"I have a lot of respect for him," he says.

"He likes people who take his music and use it, rather than recreate it."

Svehla doesn't know if he'll keep his Denny Diamond career going as long as the original Diamond has, but he has no plans to quit any time soon.

In the meantime, he sounds so much like Diamond that some fans get confused.

"It's funny," Svehla says. "Some of the old folks who don't get it will ask me how my dad is doing."