Jeff Allen
Encyclopedia
Jeff Allen is an English
rock
and blues
session
drummer
. Allen is best known for his work with East of Eden, Babe Ruth
, Snowy White
, Bonnie Tyler
, Mick Taylor
and Van Morrison
.
He is not to be confused, although in many listings often is, with the similarly named, former drummer with the British
glam rock
outfit, Hello
, whose brother is Ultravox
's Chris Cross
.
based band, The Beatstalkers, who played residencies at the Marquee Club
in London
, and the Frankfurt
and Cologne
'Storeyville' clubs.
Allen joined East of Eden in 1971, and his percussion
work appeared on five of their album
s in the 1970s.
In the early 1980s, working as a freelance session musician, Allen played on albums recorded by Bonnie Tyler
(Goodbye to the Island
), Murray Head
(Voices
) and John Martyn
(Well Kept Secret
). In 1986, Allen joined Snowy White
's Blues Agency, and drummed on their 1988 album, Change My Life
.
In 1995 Allen teamed up with both Mick Taylor
and Snowy White for their live album
, Arthur's Club-Geneve 1995
.
More recently, Allen played drums on Baghdad (2003) by Ilham al-Madfai
.
Most recent duties include party planning for the Brunei Royal Family
in London, which led to his appointment as executive producer of music concerts for Sensible Music.
Through his drumming duties with various musicians over the years, Allen's work appears on numerous compilation album
s.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
and blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
session
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
. Allen is best known for his work with East of Eden, Babe Ruth
Babe Ruth (band)
Babe Ruth are a rock music group, primarily active through the 1970s, from Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England. Their characteristically 'heavy' sound is marked by powerful vocals from Janita Haan and full arrangements by Alan Shacklock...
, Snowy White
Snowy White
Snowy White is an English guitarist, known for having played with Thin Lizzy and with Pink Floyd and, more recently, for Roger Waters'...
, Bonnie Tyler
Bonnie Tyler
Bonnie Tyler is a Welsh singer, most notable for her hits in the 1970s and 1980s including "It's a Heartache", "Holding Out for a Hero" and "Total Eclipse of the Heart".-Early life:...
, Mick Taylor
Mick Taylor
Michael Kevin "Mick" Taylor is an English musician, best known as a former member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and The Rolling Stones...
and Van Morrison
Van Morrison
Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
.
He is not to be confused, although in many listings often is, with the similarly named, former drummer with the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
glam rock
Glam rock
Glam rock is a style of rock and pop music that developed in the UK in the early 1970s, which was performed by singers and musicians who wore outrageous clothes, makeup and hairstyles, particularly platform-soled boots and glitter...
outfit, Hello
Hello (band)
Hello is a Bell Records label, teen appeal glam rock band, based in England.-Career:The core of Hello was founded in about 1969, originally being called The Age. The band was started by Bob Bradbury, previously of The Flashback Berries, with Jeff Allen , Keith Marshall and Vic Faulkner...
, whose brother is Ultravox
Ultravox
Ultravox is a British New Wave rock band. They were one of the primary exponents of the British electronic pop music movement of the late 1970s/early 1980s. The band was particularly associated with the New Romantic and New Wave movements....
's Chris Cross
Chris Cross
Chris Cross is the bass guitarist in the band Ultravox.-Early years:Cross went to Belmont Secondary Modern School, William Forster Comprehensive...
.
Biography
Allen became the drummer with the GlasgowGlasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
based band, The Beatstalkers, who played residencies at the Marquee Club
Marquee Club
The Marquee was a music club first located at 165 Oxford Street, London, England when it opened in 1958 with a range of jazz and skiffle acts.It was also the location of the first ever live performance by The Rolling Stones on 12 July 1962....
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and the Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
and Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
'Storeyville' clubs.
Allen joined East of Eden in 1971, and his percussion
Percussion instrument
A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
work appeared on five of their album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
s in the 1970s.
In the early 1980s, working as a freelance session musician, Allen played on albums recorded by Bonnie Tyler
Bonnie Tyler
Bonnie Tyler is a Welsh singer, most notable for her hits in the 1970s and 1980s including "It's a Heartache", "Holding Out for a Hero" and "Total Eclipse of the Heart".-Early life:...
(Goodbye to the Island
Goodbye to the Island
Goodbye to the Island is the fourth album by Bonnie Tyler released in 1981. The track "Sitting on the Edge of the Ocean" was the Grand Prix winner of the Yamaha Music Festival held in Japan in 1979.- Track listing :...
), Murray Head
Murray Head
Murray Seafield Saint-George Head is a British actor and singer, most recognised for his international hit songs "Superstar" and "One Night in Bangkok" and his album Say It Ain't So...
(Voices
Voices (Murray Head album)
-Track listing:#"Last Daze of an Empire" - 4:17#"Affair Across a Crowded Room" - 4:37#"Hey Lady" - 3:05#"On your Own Again" - 3:45#"She's Doing Time on the Line" - 4:00#"Chance Encounter" - 3:37#"Children Only Play " - 4:46#"Old Soho" - 4:05...
) and John Martyn
John Martyn
John Martyn, OBE , born Iain David McGeachy, was a British singer-songwriter and guitarist. Over a forty-year career he released twenty studio albums, working with artists such as Eric Clapton and David Gilmour...
(Well Kept Secret
Well Kept Secret
Well Kept Secret is John Martyn's second and final album for WEA. It was released in 1982 and is thought by many to be his most disappointing effort. "Never Let Me Go" featured Ronnie Scott on saxophone.-Track listing:...
). In 1986, Allen joined Snowy White
Snowy White
Snowy White is an English guitarist, known for having played with Thin Lizzy and with Pink Floyd and, more recently, for Roger Waters'...
's Blues Agency, and drummed on their 1988 album, Change My Life
Change My Life
Change My Life is the fourth solo album by British blues guitarist Snowy White, and the first under the Snowy White's Blues Agency name, released in 1988....
.
In 1995 Allen teamed up with both Mick Taylor
Mick Taylor
Michael Kevin "Mick" Taylor is an English musician, best known as a former member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and The Rolling Stones...
and Snowy White for their live album
Live album
A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...
, Arthur's Club-Geneve 1995
Arthur's Club-Geneve 1995
Arthur's Club-Geneve 1995 was a 75-minute performance in Geneva by blues guitarist Mick Taylor, featuring Snowy White, recorded for a television special and a promotional album...
.
More recently, Allen played drums on Baghdad (2003) by Ilham al-Madfai
Ilham al-Madfai
Ilham al-Madfai is an Iraqi guitarist, singer and composer. al-Madfai's synthesis of Western guitar stylings with traditional Iraqi music has made him a revered and popular artist in his native country and throughout the Middle East...
.
Most recent duties include party planning for the Brunei Royal Family
Hassanal Bolkiah
General Haji Sir Hassan al-Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah GCB GCMG is the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, the 29th Sultan of Brunei and the first Prime Minister of Brunei Darussalam...
in London, which led to his appointment as executive producer of music concerts for Sensible Music.
Partial discography
- 1971: New Leaf - East of Eden
- 1971: World of East of Eden - East of Eden
- 1972: First BaseFirst Base (album)First Base was the album by the rock music group Babe Ruth. Produced by Alan Shacklock and Nick Mobbs, released in 1972.The album went gold in Canada, sold well in the US, but had disappointing sales by comparison in the UK. The song "The Mexican" has been covered and mixed many times...
- Babe RuthBabe Ruth (band)Babe Ruth are a rock music group, primarily active through the 1970s, from Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England. Their characteristically 'heavy' sound is marked by powerful vocals from Janita Haan and full arrangements by Alan Shacklock...
(played on one track) - 1975: Another Eden - East of Eden
- 1976: It's the Climate - East of Eden
- 1978: Restless - Rab NoakesRab NoakesRab Noakes is a Scottish singer-songwriter.-Biography:He has performed with Lindisfarne, who recorded his songs "Turn a Deaf Ear" on their first album, Nicely Out of Tune, and "Together Forever" on their second, Fog on the Tyne...
- 1978: Silver Park - East of Eden
- 1981: Goodbye to the IslandGoodbye to the IslandGoodbye to the Island is the fourth album by Bonnie Tyler released in 1981. The track "Sitting on the Edge of the Ocean" was the Grand Prix winner of the Yamaha Music Festival held in Japan in 1979.- Track listing :...
- Bonnie TylerBonnie TylerBonnie Tyler is a Welsh singer, most notable for her hits in the 1970s and 1980s including "It's a Heartache", "Holding Out for a Hero" and "Total Eclipse of the Heart".-Early life:... - 1981: VoicesVoices (Murray Head album)-Track listing:#"Last Daze of an Empire" - 4:17#"Affair Across a Crowded Room" - 4:37#"Hey Lady" - 3:05#"On your Own Again" - 3:45#"She's Doing Time on the Line" - 4:00#"Chance Encounter" - 3:37#"Children Only Play " - 4:46#"Old Soho" - 4:05...
- Murray HeadMurray HeadMurray Seafield Saint-George Head is a British actor and singer, most recognised for his international hit songs "Superstar" and "One Night in Bangkok" and his album Say It Ain't So... - 1982: Well Kept SecretWell Kept SecretWell Kept Secret is John Martyn's second and final album for WEA. It was released in 1982 and is thought by many to be his most disappointing effort. "Never Let Me Go" featured Ronnie Scott on saxophone.-Track listing:...
- John MartynJohn MartynJohn Martyn, OBE , born Iain David McGeachy, was a British singer-songwriter and guitarist. Over a forty-year career he released twenty studio albums, working with artists such as Eric Clapton and David Gilmour... - 1983: Philentropy - John Martyn
- 1988: Change My LifeChange My LifeChange My Life is the fourth solo album by British blues guitarist Snowy White, and the first under the Snowy White's Blues Agency name, released in 1988....
- Snowy WhiteSnowy WhiteSnowy White is an English guitarist, known for having played with Thin Lizzy and with Pink Floyd and, more recently, for Roger Waters'...
's Blues Agency - 1994: Life Like Feel - Life Like Feel
- 1995: Arthur's Club-Geneve 1995Arthur's Club-Geneve 1995Arthur's Club-Geneve 1995 was a 75-minute performance in Geneva by blues guitarist Mick Taylor, featuring Snowy White, recorded for a television special and a promotional album...
- Mick Taylor & Snowy White (live albumLive albumA live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...
) - 2000: Burning Bush - Troy Hardin
- 2000: Peter Green Songbook - Peter Green
- 2000: A Stone's Throw - Mick TaylorMick TaylorMichael Kevin "Mick" Taylor is an English musician, best known as a former member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and The Rolling Stones...
- 2003: Baghdad - Ilham al-MadfaiIlham al-MadfaiIlham al-Madfai is an Iraqi guitarist, singer and composer. al-Madfai's synthesis of Western guitar stylings with traditional Iraqi music has made him a revered and popular artist in his native country and throughout the Middle East...
- 2005: Ghost Party - Jeff Arundel
- 2007: Utopia 2 - Belinda
- 2009: Twice as Addictive - Snowy WhiteSnowy WhiteSnowy White is an English guitarist, known for having played with Thin Lizzy and with Pink Floyd and, more recently, for Roger Waters'...
's Blues Agency
Through his drumming duties with various musicians over the years, Allen's work appears on numerous compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
s.