Wade Nichols: ‘Like an Eagle’ – His Untold Story Part 3: The Soap Opera King – Podcast 154

Wade Nichols: ‘Like an Eagle’ – His Untold Story Part 3: The Soap Opera King – Podcast 154

From The Rialto Report by Ashley West

August 3, 2025 · 38 min · Episode 154

About this episode

The episode explores the life of Dennis Posa, also known as Dennis Parker, detailing his rise to fame in the disco era and his complex personal journey.

In 1979, Dennis Posa was on the verge of stardom. Against all odds, as Dennis Parker, he’d just released a disco record on a major recording label and was managed by the same team responsible for many of the biggest disco acts of the time. I say, against all odds, because less than 10 years earlier, he’d been a college dropout, the product of a difficult childhood on Long Island who struggled with his sexuality, who had moved to New York to unsuccessfully pursue a career as a theater actor. Dennis was always a collection of contradictions: he was a private loner – who could also be the popular and gregarious center of attention socially; he took a desk job on Madison Avenue like a latter day backroom character in ‘Mad Men’ but he dreamed of acting and singing; he seemed happiest when he was in his beloved apartment painting a landscape or doing his carpentry listening to his jazz records but he also enjoyed hitting the road on his motorbike and driving across the country, or hanging out in the city’s gay bars at night. And then in the mid 1970s came adult film stardom – in straight sex films no less. His face – and body – adorning movie posters and adult film screens across the…

People in this episode

Host: Ashley West

Topics covered

  • disco music
  • adult film industry
  • personal struggles
  • fame and stardom
  • music production
  • identity

Keywords

  • Dennis Posa
  • Dennis Parker
  • Jacques Morali
  • Village People
  • disco
  • adult film
  • New York
  • fame
  • identity

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Village People

Places: Long Island, New York

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