Father of Da'Quan Bowers passes

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Mon Aug 09 00:55:47 GMT-04:00 2010

CLEMSON -- Dennis Bowers, the father of Clemson junior defensive end Da’Quan Bowers and a member of the Legendary Singing Stars gospel group, passed away early Sunday in Augusta, Ga. He was 54.

The group was performing at Diamond Lakes on Saturday, but Bowers was rushed to the hospital after he collapsed prior to the start of the show.

It was reported that Bowers had walking pneumonia, but still wanted to perform, and it was unknown if that was a contributing factor to his death.

Dennis had been playing with the Singing Stars since 1978, but when founding member Tommy Ellison became sick with cancer in 2008, Dennis became the group's front man. He replaced himself at lead guitar with Da’Quan, who had been traveling with the group since he was a toddler and often performed with the band during pre-concert sound checks when he grew older.

Da’Quan has toured with the group for the past two years, but recently stated that he had his last performance with the group last week, instead wanting to concentrate fully on football this season.

Dennis Bowers told ESPN.com last year that music and football were two loves for his son.

"It's always been his dream," Dennis Bowers said. "He's always wanted to be a musician. Besides football, his dream was always to perform with us onstage. But I told him at an early age he'd never get to perform until he mastered the guitar, and not until I thought he was good enough."

The Singing Stars are on stage somewhere most weekends, playing at churches and other venues around the country. Ellison, who died in January, formed the band in Brooklyn, N.Y., during the 1950s.

Da’Quan had been told that his guitar riffs sounded just like his father’s, and when the group needed a fill-in guitarist for an event about six years ago, Dennis put Da’Quan front and center at the Dane Theatre in Denmark, S.C.

"That was the first time he ever strapped it on with me," Dennis told ESPN. "I just called him up onstage, and that was it. It was a perfect fit. The guys were just amazed how much he sounded like me."

No funeral arrangements have been made, but we will let you know as soon as possible once we hear.