Complex sentence: His mother wanted him to be a dentist so Perry was adopted by a quack dentist and blacked boots before at age twelve running ran away from home and joining a carnival where he earned his living for a few years as a singer and tap dancer.
Split into simpler sentences: His mother wanted him to be a dentist, so Perry was adopted by a quack dentist, where he blacked boots before running ran away at age twelve to join a carnival. He earned his living for a few years as a singer and tap dancer.