Russell Allen (born July 19, 1971) is an American singer best known as the vocalist of the

progressive metal Progressive metal (often shortened to prog metal) is a broad fusion music genre melding heavy metal music, heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified electric guitar, guitar-driven sound of the former with t ...

band Symphony X. He has also worked with the supergroups

Star One Star One was an Indian pay television channel based in Mumbai and owned by Star TV, with worldwide distribution handled by Fox International Channels. Launched on 1 November 2004, Star One was launched in the UK on Sky in November 2006. Sta ...

, Allen-Lande,

Adrenaline Mob Adrenaline Mob is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal supergroup (music), supergroup formed in early 2011 by singer Russell Allen, guitarist Mike Orlando and drummer Mike Portnoy. The band's current lineup consists of Allen, Orlando, and ...

, Level 10, and as one of fourteen vocalists in the progressive

symphonic metal Symphonic metal is a cross-genre style designation for the symphonic subsets of heavy metal music subgenres. It is used to denote any metal band that makes use of symphonic or orchestral elements. The style features the heavy drums and guitars ...

band

Trans-Siberian Orchestra Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO) is an American rock band founded in 1996 by producer, composer, and lyricist Paul O'Neill (producer), Paul O'Neill, who brought together Jon Oliva and Al Pitrelli (both members of Savatage) and keyboardist and co-pr ...

Biography

Before his music career began, Allen was a jouster at a

Medieval Times In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and t ...

Dinner Theater at the

Lyndhurst, New Jersey Lyndhurst is a Township (New Jersey), township in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 22,519, an increase of 1,965 (+9.6%) from the 2010 Uni ...

location from 1990 to 2002. He also served as an assistant production manager. He was introduced to the band Symphony X by former singer Rod Tyler. Allen has been the lead singer of Symphony X since 1995, releasing eight studio albums and one live album with the band. His first solo album, Atomic Soul, was released April 25, 2005. As well as singing he also plays the bass when performing songs from ''Atomic Soul'' live. He is referred to in various circles as "Sir Russell Allen", and he is credited as such on Arjen Lucassen's

albums, because of a joke that Arjen made regarding Allen's former job as a jouster. In the summer of 2005 he went on tour with Symphony X on

Dave Mustaine David Scott Mustaine (born September 13, 1961) is an American musician. He is best known as the co-founder, frontman, primary songwriter and sole consistent member of the thrash metal band Megadeth and for his time as the lead guitarist of Met ...

's Gigantour alongside such bands as

Dream Theater Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 in Boston, Massachusetts. The band comprises John Petrucci (guitar), John Myung (bass), Mike Portnoy (drums), James LaBrie (vocals) and Jordan Rudess (keyboards). Dream Theat ...

Megadeth Megadeth is an American thrash metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1983 by vocalist and guitarist Dave Mustaine. Known for their technically complex guitar work and musicianship, Megadeth is one of the "big four" of American thrash metal—alo ...

, and

Nevermore Nevermore is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 1992. The band was formed after three of its members — vocalist Warrel Dane, bassist Jim Sheppard and guitarist Jeff Loomis — ended their prev ...

. The same year, he also made part of a duo

melodic rock Rock is a genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid-1960s, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdom. It has its ...

project with singer

Jørn Lande Jørn Marumsrud Lande (born 31 May 1968) is a Norwegian hard rock and heavy metal singer. He is known for his work with the bands Ark, Beyond Twilight, Millenium, Vagabond, The Snakes, and most notably with power metal band Masterplan. He ...

(ex- Masterplan) called Allen/Lande, which has four albums, all released by

Frontiers Records Frontiers Music (formerly Frontiers Records) is an Italian record label that primarily focuses on hard rock. The label was founded in 1996 by Serafino Perugino and is headquartered in Naples. History In 1996, Serafino Perugino began his care ...

. In addition to being Symphony X vocalist, he is also currently working in another band with guitarist Mike Orlando called

. In November 2013, Allen joined

for their 2013 Fall/Winter tour and performed with the group at the

Wacken Open Air Wacken Open Air (, abbreviated as W:O:A) is a Heavy metal music, heavy metal music festival, held annually since 1990 on the first weekend of August in the village of Wacken, Schleswig-Holstein, Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Almost all ...

2015. He is also featured in their 2015 studio album ''Letters from the Labyrinth''. In 2014, a new project was announced, featuring Russell Allen with bassist

Mat Sinner Matthias Lasch (born 16 October 1964), known professionally as Mat Sinner, is a German bassist, singer and record producer from Stuttgart. Sinner has been involved in numerous bands and projects throughout his musical career. His main bands ha ...

and other members of the German band Primal Fear, called Level 10, with an album release slated for January 2015. The release date and the name of the album were revealed in November 2013: it would be titled as '' Chapter One'', to be released on January 23, 2015, in Europe and on January 27, 2014, in North America via Frontiers Music srl. In 2015, Russell Allen recorded vocals for a new project of

Whitesnake Whitesnake are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1978. The group were originally put together as the backing band for singer David Coverdale, who had recently left Deep Purple. Though the band quickly developed into their ow ...

and former

Night Ranger Night Ranger is an American hard rock band from San Francisco, California. The band formed in 1982 and experienced a surge of popularity during the 1980s with the release of several successful albums and hit singles. Guitarist Brad Gillis and ...

guitarist

Joel Hoekstra Joel Hoekstra (born December 13, 1970) is an American guitarist currently in the hard rock band Whitesnake. He also tours as a guitarist for Trans-Siberian Orchestra. The son of classical musicians, he started out playing cello and piano at a y ...

called Joel Hoekstra's 13, with an album called Dying to Live, released on October 16. Russell sings lead vocals on half of the songs in the album with background vocals and the other half of lead vocals recorded by

Jeff Scott Soto Jeff Scott Soto (born November 4, 1965) is an American Rock music, rock singer of Puerto Rican descent. He is perhaps best known for being the vocalist on Yngwie Malmsteen's first two albums, and the lead vocalist for Journey (band), Journey i ...

. In 2020, Russell Allen collaborated with former

Nightwish Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee. The band was formed in 1996 by lead songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former lead singer Tarja Turunen. The band soon picked up drummer Jukka Neval ...

vocalist

Anette Olzon Anette Ingegerd Olsson (born 21 June 1971), known by the stage name Anette Olzon, is a Swedish singer, best known as the former lead vocalist of Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish from 2007 to 2012. She is also the vocalist of Swedish class ...

on a new a duo melodic rock project under the name Allen/Olzon. '' Worlds Apart'', their debut album, was released on March 6, 2020.

Musical style

Multi-instrumentalist, singer and composer

Arjen Lucassen Arjen Anthony Lucassen (born 3 April 1960) is a Dutch singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist musician and record producer, best known for his long-running progressive metal/rock opera project Ayreon. Lucassen started his career in 1980 as th ...

has said the following regarding Russell Allen: Allen has worked with Lucassen on various occasions: originally he sang the song "Dawn of a Million Souls" on

Ayreon Ayreon is a musical project by Dutch songwriter, singer, musician and record producer Arjen Anthony Lucassen. Ayreon's music is described as progressive rock, progressive metal and power metal sometimes combined with genres such as folk music, f ...

's 2000 album Universal Migrator Part 2: Flight of the Migrator (which also featured a guitar solo by Michael Romeo), and in 2002 he became one of the lead vocalists for Lucassen's project

. Allen has stated in an interview that " Ronnie James Dio is definitely at the top of my list of influences" and also mentioned

Bruce Dickinson Paul Bruce Dickinson (born 7 August 1958) is an English singer who is best known as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden. Dickinson has performed in the band across two stints, from 1981 to 1993 and from 1999 to the present d ...

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris (musician), Steve Harris. Although fluid in the early years of the band, the line-up for most ...

and former Free and

Bad Company Bad Company were an English rock supergroup formed in London in 1973 by singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke (both ex- Free), guitarist Mick Ralphs (ex- Mott the Hoople) and bassist Boz Burrell (ex-King Crimson). Kirke was the only m ...

singer

Paul Rodgers Paul Bernard Rodgers (born 17 December 1949) is an English-Canadian singer. He was the lead vocalist of numerous successful rock bands, including Free (band), Free, Bad Company, The Firm (rock band), the Firm and The Law (English band), the L ...

as influences.

Personal life

While beginning work at the Medieval Times in 1990, he met his future wife. The couple later had a daughter in 2008.

Discography

Studio albums: * '' Atomic Soul'' (2005)

Symphony X

Studio albums: * '' The Damnation Game'' (1995) * '' The Divine Wings of Tragedy'' (1997) * '' Twilight in Olympus'' (1998) * ''

V – The New Mythology Suite ''V: The New Mythology Suite'' is the fifth studio album by progressive metal band Symphony X, released on October 10, 2000, through Inside Out Music. It is a concept album dealing with the story of Atlantis, ancient Egyptian mythology, and as ...

'' (2000) * ''

The Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; ) is one of two major epics of ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest surviving works of literature and remains popular with modern audiences. Like the ''Iliad'', the ''Odyssey'' is divi ...

'' (2002) * ''

Paradise Lost ''Paradise Lost'' is an Epic poetry, epic poem in blank verse by the English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The poem concerns the Bible, biblical story of the fall of man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their ex ...

'' (2007) * ''

Iconoclast Iconoclasm ()From . ''Iconoclasm'' may also be considered as a back-formation from ''iconoclast'' (Greek: εἰκοκλάστης). The corresponding Greek word for iconoclasm is εἰκονοκλασία, ''eikonoklasia''. is the social belie ...

'' (2011) * ''

Underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. ...

'' (2015) Live albums: * '' Live on the Edge of Forever'' (2001)

Star One

Studio albums: * '' Space Metal'' (2002) * ''

Victims of the Modern Age ''Victims of the Modern Age'' is the second studio album by Arjen Anthony Lucassen's progressive metal project/ supergroup Star One, released on the recording label Inside Out in the US on 25 October 2010 and in Europe on 1 November 2010. The a ...

'' (2010) * '' Revel in Time'' (2022) Live albums: * '' Live on Earth'' (2003)

Allen/Lande

Studio albums: * '' The Battle'' (2005) * '' The Revenge'' (2007) * '' The Showdown'' (2010) * '' The Great Divide'' (2014)

Adrenaline Mob

Studio albums: * ''

Omertà Omertà () is a Southern Italian code of silence and code of honor and conduct that places importance on silence in the face of questioning by authorities or outsiders; non-cooperation with authorities, the government, or outsiders, especially ...

'' (2012) * '' Men of Honor'' (2014) * ''

We The People The Preamble to the United States Constitution, beginning with the words We the People, is a brief introductory statement of the Constitution's fundamental purposes and guiding principles. Courts have referred to it as reliable evidence of ...

'' (2017) EPs: * ''Adrenaline Mob'' (2011) * ''

Covertà ''Covertà'' is the first official EP by American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Adrenaline Mob. It was released on March 12, 2013, in North America by Elm City Music. As the title suggests, the EP consists entirely of Cover version, cover ...

'' (2013) * ''Dearly Departed'' (2015)

Level 10

Studio albums: * '' Chapter One'' (2015)

Joel Hoekstra's 13

Studio albums: * '' Dying to Live'' (2015) * ''Running Games'' (2021)

Allen/Olzon

Studio albums: * '' Worlds Apart'' (2020) * ''Army of Dreamers'' (2022)

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Russell 1971 births Living people American rock songwriters American heavy metal singers American male singer-songwriters Musicians from Long Beach, California Symphony X members Singer-songwriters from California Allen-Lande members Star One (band) members Adrenaline Mob members 21st-century American male singers 21st-century American singer-songwriters