How a mechanical engineer can become a sort of Dean Martinesque performer making the rounds singing Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, and Johnny Cash is a tale of how life can turn oh so easily on a dime.
In the 1970s, Ronnie Devens was the quintessential gear head, a young man getting started around the New York metro creating machines of mass-production from scratch - no joke.
He designed industrial-sized titans that could automate on the fly; one of his constructions etched gun-handle patterns in seconds. Not even the largest gun manufacturers in that case had the equipment to do so at the time, said the Lakeville resident in an interview with The Wayne Independent on Tuesday.
Also an electrical engineer, Devens - who you can tell incessantly has a mind spinning on full tilt - thought he had a steady career. His ideas led to self-employment, engineering contracts and other affairs with companies that wanted to speed up their production processes.
But, as always with an ever-churning American economy prone to restructuring and job destruction, Devens was getting less and less work throughout the 80s, coming to a head in the 90s.
“Ronnie you can’t do this forever. Labor in these countries is so cheap,” he recalled telling himself as American engineers faced greater competition - and at times cheaper salaries - from their foreign counterparts.
“I could see what was happening. I had no job,” he said.
What is a man to do? Sing?
Well ... ask Ronnie Devens in 1995 whether he had the inner performer lurking beneath his five-foot five stature, somewhat cautious bearing that strays more so on the side of being a conversationalist than a knock-em-dead crooner.
But it happened one night at a rural New Jersey haunt in 1996, and his first try out was ironically with a machine that has launched many a singing career ... Karaoke.
“I didn’t even know what that was,” Devens said, honestly of the box that has made many believe they were indeed Jon Bon Jovi for three minutes But with family and friends urging him to grab the mic, he reluctantly went for it: a man who no less never sang a note in public and didn’t really, truly know any songs - at all.
He sang the oldie “Release Me”- literally shaking with the microphone gyrating a bit as his nerves twitched.
“What’s happening here?” he asked himself as he bellowed the tune, in disbelief that he was singing and to a restaurant audience of all things. 
Then it was over.
Still shaking, he was approached by a stranger, who said “you can do this for a living.”
Somewhat taken aback in further disbelief, he went back home - still jobless, not thinking twice about singing a second time, especially for a living.
Then, it happened again and again: through more Karaoke, a brief stint with a 16-piece band, along with more words of encouragement from strangers who said maybe you have a knack for this and maybe you can knock-em-dead Ronnie.
That turn of a dime year, 1996, would indeed begin a string of shows in New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut with Devens singing a suite of tunes of the likes of Sinatra, Presley, Cash, Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, and Johnny Mathis at small resorts, nursing homes, charity events, and luncheons. Not huge events, no fame or fortune, but just enough to get along, opening a new door and a modest sideline.  “When you have a (job) depression, people go for the hobbies,” he said.
The engineer who didn’t think he had a beat suddenly had a beat: performing at least 12 shows per month for six years, up to when he moved to Wayne County in 2002.
“Everything had changed ... just go with the flow I guess,” said Devens, who still doesn’t believe he’s become a “performer.” And he added comedy and monologues to his repertoire, filling out the usually one-hour long show.
But ... he kind of hit the skids in Wayne County.
“I couldn’t give my show away,” he said.
That would change; as if life handed him a second-go for his second career, he’s landed a few local gigs recently: a New Year’s show at The Hideout and a run at The Gravity Inn in Waymart on Saturday, November 28.
Engineer Devens was back on Tuesday for our interview: this time as a sound engineer for a test run at The Gravity Inn, finely adjusting the sonics in line with the space so that his voice meets that of the past greats he brings to the stage.
“If you get the acoustics right, you can carry anything.”
And so it goes.
Devens can be reached at (570) 226-0658.