Tony Allen (singer)

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Tony Allen (born Anthony Penia Allan on August 13, 1932 in New Orleans , Louisiana) is an American doo-wop singer. His most successful hit is Night Owl from 1955 for Specialty Records .

Life

origin

Tony was born in New Orleans to a Creole mother and an Afro-Indian father. His uncle was Frank Penia , the owner of the famous Dew Drop Inn club . While his father, who was a butcher, ignored his son's musical ambitions, he was able to learn how to play the piano at Fats Domino, who lived in the neighborhood . The uncle first sent him to his aunt in Los Angeles in 1941. At the local George Washington Carver High School he met Arthur Lee Maye and Eugene Church , at Jefferson High School Cornel Gunter and Bobby Freeman . Through this clique of young musicians, including Jesse Belvin , Tony Allen was able to weave a wide network into the Californian R&B scene.

First recordings

Angel Child was 14-year-old Tony's first record, which was made in low quality in Austin McCoy's studio and was released in limited numbers on Aries Records. A joint session with Jesse Belvin for John Dolphin's Recorded Hollywood label went unreleased. He also wrote I'm Your Mojo Man for Larry Brice and No One for the Fury's first own pieces. In Big Jay McNeely's group Three Dots & a Dash he was able to gain further experience in vocal harmony. His friend Jesse Belvin introduced him to the producer Bumps Blackwell of Specialty Records , when Jesse was drafted into the army and thus failed to record, Blackwell came back to him.

Night Owl

Tony was still living with his aunt Nila, who see him as "Night Owl" ( English for owl called) when he came home after a long night until the middle of the following day. He made a song out of this, which he strummed on a piano when he first met producer Blackwell. Blackwell's promise that he would record the song if Allen could present a second page he redeemed on July 4, 1955 at the Master Records studio in Hollywood, Specialty's home studio. He was accompanied by the session band The Chimes , currently consisting of Charles Jackson, David Cobb, Pookie Wooton and John Talbert, who were named "The Champs" for the release of Night Owl . Although I built on the harmonies of the currently successful track Emily the Turks , specialty arranger Ernie Freeman was more interested in the novelty- capable song about the night owl, whose scream "Whoo, whoo!" Tony Allen was allowed to imitate. Tony, who was working at Al Levine's printing plant Monarch Records at the time , accidentally swapped the labels on the A and B sides of his own record, so that both songs, Night Owl and I , found their way onto radio programs, depending on whether the Radio DJs noticed the mix-up or not. Label boss Art Rupe also sent Tony on tour with specialty greats Little Richard , Eugene Church, Larry Williams , Wynona Carr , Lloyd Price and Clifton Chenier . Specialty 650 with Night Owl was to remain Tony Allen's biggest seller, with which he is still most associated today.

Bad luck and trouble when switching to Johnny Otis

Specialty released Allen's follow-up single a month later, this time with the properly named Chimes. Especially a classic doo-wop ballad, Check Yourself, Baby is a brisker R&B number that was spontaneously thrown together by the musicians in the studio. After an appearance on the television program of KTTV, the host Johnny Otis persuaded the singer to terminate his contract with Specialty due to the still increasing popularity of Night Owl , which disappointed Art Rupe enormously. The young Allen knew about the great influence and skills of the producer from Aladdin Records and therefore wanted to go to Otis. A rocker called It Hurt Me So , based on Night Owl , and another, not identical to its predecessor, Check Yourself on Ultra Records and I Found an Angel on the same label , now called Dig Records , were commercial flops. A glorious return to Specialty failed because of the lack of interest Rupes, who had landed a national hit with Little Richards Tutti Frutti , which followed Night Owl as Specialty 651 .

Label hopping

After his time with Johnny Otis, Allen took on offers at many different record labels, mostly with changing vocal ensembles as accompaniment or non-hierarchically as an equal singer within the groups. At Ebb Records , which Art Rupe's ex-wife Lee had financed with the severance pay from the divorce, Come Back came out with Why in the World in October 1957 . For Aladdin Records he teamed up with a cousin under the band name The Cupids and released Now You Tell Me, a surprisingly fresh rockabilly- style number . The reverse side Lillie Mae borrowed from the novelty songs of Aladdin stars Shirley and Lee . A renewed collaboration with Jesse Belvin led in 1958 to a contact with Lee Hazlewood , who was at the time A&R manager at Dot Records . Although the Mesner brothers burst into the session at the much-booked Radio Recorders Studio as directors of Aladdin and insisted on their contract with Allen, Tony was able, with the help of Ernie Freemans and Lee Hazelwoods, to finish working on Chills and Skinny Minny and finally bring them out for Dot. Thereupon the contract against the overwriting of the song rights to Aladdin was terminated.

Tony Allen's next stop was Imperial Records where the producer Eddie Ray grossed four titles with him, of which Forgive Me with clear text references to Night Owl as "Answer Song" (roughly: Answer Song ) was designed. Allen's subsequent recordings for Forward Records by George Motola and Jack Hoffman were also licensed to Bob Sherman 's Tampa Records label . Since at the end of the year four records were competing for buyers at the same time under Allen's name, Fabor Robinson , the doo-wop singer , decided to use the pseudonym "Bobby Starr" for recordings on his labels. In 1959, through the intermediary of George Motola, a contact was made with Jamie Records in Philadelphia , where Loving You Allen's personal favorite hit was pressed on vinyl. His career only gained new impetus with the support of DJ Art Laboe , who not only recorded him for his new label Original Sound , but also his specialty hit Night Owl on the second edition of the sought-after LP series Oldies But Goodies in Hi Fi , whose concept of compiling various artists on a sound carrier was considered very innovative at the time.

Tony Allen made his last recordings in the early 1960s for Kent Records , Everest Records and Mach IV Records . Over the years Allen had recorded material for around 25 singles under various names and with the participation of many vocal groups. With the death of his aunt in the course of the Watts riot in 1965, Tony lost an important reference person.

Late career

Tony Allen remained a sought-after artist for oldie shows because of his evergreen Night Owl . In the 1990s he was on stage with his old Los Angeles friends Gaynel Hodge , Richard Berry and Eugene Church for events of the Doo-Wop Society. His work is gradually being made available on CD compilations for today's market. With Ace Records beginning appeared the 2000 his only official album on Modern subsidiary Crown Records along with the recordings for Kent , Dig and unreleased footage.

Discography

Singles

  • 1952 - Angel Child / Check Yourself , Aries
  • 1955 - Night Owl / I , Specialty 560 (with the Champs)
  • 1955 - It Hurts Me So / Check Yourself , Ultra 104 (A-Side as Tony & Barbara)
  • 1956 - Especially / Check Yourself , Specialty 570 (with the Chimes)
  • 1956 - I Found an Angel / I'm Dreaming , Dig 109
  • 1957 - Why in the World / Come Back , Ebb 115
  • 1957 Holy Smoke Baby / Time Won't Wait On You , Aladdin 3403
  • 1957 - Lillie Mae / Now You Tell Me , Aladdin 340 (as part of the Cupids)
  • 1958 - Call My Name / Strange Talk , Imperial 5523
  • 1958 - Forgive Me / Rockin 'Shoes , Imperial 5547
  • 1958 - Chills / Skinnie Minnie , Dot 15722
  • 1958 - Be My Love Be My Love / Tell Me , Forward 601 (as part of the Wonders)
  • 1959 - Please Give Me a Chance / Sweet Man , Radio 120 (as Bobby Starr)
  • 1959 - Loving You / Lookin 'for Me Baby , Jamie 1119 (as part of Wonders)
  • 1959 - God Gave Me You / Train of Love , Jamie 1143.
  • 1959 - Wishing Star / Let Me Hear You Say Yeah , Original Sound 01 (as the Originals featuring Tony Allen)
  • 1959 - Thinking of You / (different artist), Original Sound 12 (as part of the Jaguars)
  • 1960 - Little Lonely Girl / I Still Love You , Original Sound 13 (as the Originals featuring Tony Allen)
  • 1960 - No One (No One But You) / Giggles , Everest 19388
  • 1960 - No One (No One But You) / Giggles , Mach IV 104 (as part of the Lions)
  • 1961 - Everybody's Somebody's Fool / If Love Was Money , Kent 356 (with the Wanderers)
  • 1961 - Dreamin '/ Be My Love Be My Love , Kent 364
  • 1961 - Just Like Before / Come-a, Come-a, Baby , Bethlehem 3002 (with the Twilighters)
  • 1962 - It Hurts Me So / The Drakey-Do , Bethlehem 3004 (with the Twilighters)
  • 1962 - Till the Thirteenth Month / Girl of the World , Mach IV 102 (as part of the Lions)
  • 1962 - Zing Went the Strings of My Heart / Never More , Mach IV 112 (as part of the Furys)
  • 1967 - Now Is Forever / Triple Cross , United Artists 50190
  • 1988 - No One / The Back Door , Classic Artists 103

Albums

  • 1960 - Rock & Roll with Tony Allen & the Night Owls , Crown LP-5231
  • 1980 - The Best of Original Sound , Original Sound LP-1000 ( Bootleg )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Tony Allen: Tony Allen. In: The Doo-Wop-Society. Retrieved March 13, 2010 (English).
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Steve Propes, Galen Gart: LA R&B Vocal Groups 1945–1965 . 1st edition. Nickel Publications, Milford 2001, ISBN 0-936433-18-3 , Tony Allen, pp. 8-10 (English).


personal data
SURNAME Allen, Tony
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Allan, Anthony Penia (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American doo-wop singer
DATE OF BIRTH August 13, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH New Orleans , Louisiana