Bryant was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and strong inhis faith.  He has been an active member and Priesthood holder, giving comfort and inspirationto others.  Bryant has always spoken with a kind word toward others and his knowledgeof the gospel and scriptures has been a comfort to those he shared them with. Bryant enjoyed a new-found love of family history research and amassed a vast knowledge of the delicate and tedious research involved in locating and documenting family lineage.                                ~ Conrad Robertson~‍    Bryant is preceded in death by his father, Segal W. Bryant, and his mother Betty Sue Johnson Shackleford. He is survived by 3 sisters, Tammy Bryant Hemphill (Dan), Karen Bryant Haney (Avery) Laurie Francine Bryant. A brother, Eric Segal Bryant (Jenny), 3 nieces and 4 nephews as well as 4 great nieces and 3 great nephews in addition to many, many cousins.‍    He is loved deeply and will be missed by so many. A private family service will be held in his memory.‍‍    No one can tell you how to get the “it” factor, that special something that makes an audiencemesmerized by a performer.  It cannot be planned, contrived, or rehearsed.  It comes fromsomeplace deep, some pain, maybe some trauma.  In any case, it is the expression of something deep in one’s soul.‍    Dennis Bryant had that “it” factor.  There was something magic about him. With charisma matching the great rock singers like Steven Tyler or Mick Jagger, his electrifying performances earned himrecord contracts from any promotion team that happened to witness him.  His primal, sometimesacrobatic performances and strong vocal ability made him appear to be ‘next big thing’ to anyone who heard him.‍      Backing up in time, some of Dennis’ gift can be traced back to being exposed to James Brown andOtis Redding at an early age, while being raised in an orphanage in Georgia.  He would sing likehis heroes, sing of strife, from deep in his heart, while working in the cotton fields around theorphanage from a young age of 11 years old.   This foundation gave Bryant’s music a soulfulnessthat could have only come from these life experiences.‍      Soon after singing in the fields, while still in his mid-teens, he was playing and singing in variousbands. At 16, he had been signed, taken to Nashville, and had recorded his first record under theband name “The U.S. Apple Corps.”  He was on a path.‍      My life changed in 1971 when I gave a fellow hippie a ride home from McDonald’s. His name wasMike Friend. Yes, that was his real name.   Mike lived in a treehouse down a dirt road in ruralGeorgia.   A few months after delivering Mike to his tree, I received a phone call from him, askingme if I would come try out on keyboards for a band that he had just become a roadie for.  I showedup to a crash pad in Atlanta later that evening, and played my first notes with Dennis Bryant.  Imade a phone call, left the band I was in, and moved into the crash pad that night.‍      Our first gig took us to a bar in Indianapolis which was operated by the Outlaws motorcycle gang.When first on stage, there was a great deal of tension as the bikers glared at Dennis, with hisandrogynous style and stage presence, but as it turned out, he won them over, like he won everyoneover.  They knew they were seeing greatness.‍     This is a rock and roll story with a rather unusual plot line.  Somewhere along the way, Dennisconnected with his birth mother and stepfather, who he then brought with him while traveling thetwisted road of rock and roll performing. Even more incongruent to a typical rock story, at somepoint early on, Dennis found his faith in the Mormon church, to which he was fully dedicated.  Thisseemed to give fuel to his stage performances, making them that much more intense.‍      His dedication to the church was matched only by his dedication to his craft.  Always a professional,he was methodical about rehearsing bands he happened to be with.   He took this job of being asinger in a band very seriously.  It did not matter what was going on, rehearsal was daily, and wasproductive. He was focused.‍     Back in Atlanta, Frank Zappa came to town with some broken equipment.  His manager came toborrow some gear from our band, heard about 30 seconds of Dennis singing, and signed him. On the spot.  A first-class plane ticket to LA for Dennis, his mother, and his stepfather, broughthim to LA.  I soon followed too, lived with Dennis and his family in Alice Cooper’s old apartment inHollywood.‍     It did not take long for The Dennis Bryant Group to be the local heroes, regularly playing TheWhisky A Go Go, Starwood, and The Troubadour.  Aerosmith opened up for the band at theWhiskey in December of 1973, demonstrating how popular Dennis was.  Everyone wantedDennis. Some recordings were made as the stars tried to align on the business side of things.‍     Dennis soon found himself in the “care” of an influential family, with a business empire, thatwanted to change him from the superstar he was.  Power and money dictated that he compromises,and go along with the plan.  Driving a new convertible Mercedes, living in a mansion in Beverly Hills,rehearsing alongside Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson, made it easier to go along withchanging his name, cutting his hair, dropped his previous swagger, and recording songs thatdid not fit the artist that he truly was.  He was in a machine, and you do what you have to do.‍     When this ill-conceived effort did not connect, after several years of effort, the people who ‘cared’for Dennis evaporated.  Dennis persevered, but momentum had slowed.  The power and moneypeople speak to each other, and had moved on to other projects.  Hollywood routinely chews uptalent mercilessly and disposes of the carnage like soiled tissue, ever certain of the endless flowof shiny new faces arriving daily.  Additionally, the star making machine had some dirty parts. Ireceived a call from Dennis in the middle of the night, asking that I pick him up from the front lawnof the Beverly Hills compound. It was no coincidence that 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road' was onthe radio. The southern boy that Dennis was needed to reconnect with his roots, needed to goback to his plough.‍     So he reinvented himself again, because that is what he does. He began living a full life outsideof the Hollywood machine, writing, singing, helping others in many ways, including his unflinchingdedication to his beloved church.‍     Dennis Lee Bryant knew the sacredness of connecting to someone’s soul through voice. OnMarch 29th 2022 after months of failing health, out of breath, out of life, unable to speak, Dennischose to pass away while listening to his sister's voice sing to him over the phone.  He came tothis world to connect to others with his voice, and left with the same connection.‍     He leaves behind an enormous catalog of unreleased material, a long list of people who loveand care about him, and a unique talent and spirit that will never be replicated.  Travel peacefully, my dear friend.  You are loved.‍ ~Kim Bullard~Elton John Band