Verden Allen (born Terence Allen, 26 May 1944,

Crynant Crynant () is a village and community in the Dulais Valley in Wales. It lies 7¾ miles north-east from the town of Neath in Neath Port Talbot, situated between the mountains of Mynydd Marchywel to the west, Hirfynydd to the east and Mynydd y ...

Neath Neath (; ) is a market town and Community (Wales), community situated in the Neath Port Talbot, Neath Port Talbot County Borough, Wales. The town had a population of 50,658 in 2011. The community of the parish of Neath had a population of 19,2 ...

, Wales) is a Welsh

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

and vocalist best known as a founding member of 1970s rock band Mott the Hoople. Before that band formed, he had in the mid-1960s been in a

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...

cover band called The Inmates and recorded with

Jimmy Cliff James Chambers, Jamaican Order of Merit, OM (born 30 July 1944), known professionally as Jimmy Cliff, is a Jamaican ska, rocksteady, reggae and soul musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer, and actor. He is the only living reggae musician to hol ...

. He left Mott after their breakthrough 1972 album ''

All The Young Dudes "All the Young Dudes" is a song written by English singer-songwriter David Bowie, originally recorded and released as a single by the English rock band Mott the Hoople in 1972 by Columbia Records. Bowie produced the song, which he had given t ...

''. He is featured singing on a few Mott songs, including the demo version of "Nightmare", released on the (reissue) of the album ''Mott'', as well as "Soft Ground" on All the Young Dudes. After he left Mott, he joined up with future

Pretenders Pretenders may refer to: Film * ''Pretenders'' (2018 film), an American drama film * ''The Pretenders'' (1916 film), a lost American silent film * ''The Pretenders'' (1981 film), a Dutch film Literature * ''Cemetery Girl – Book One: The P ...

members

James Honeyman-Scott James Honeyman-Scott (4 November 1956 – 16 June 1982) was an English rock guitarist, songwriter and founding member of the band the Pretenders. Honeyman-Scott established a reputation, in the words of AllMusic, as "one of the most original a ...

and Martin Chambers in a band called The Cheeks. They disbanded in 1976 after failing to get a record deal. On his 1999 solo album, ''For Each Other'', Allen played all the instruments and the album was released by Angel Air Records, who reissued all the classic Mott the Hoople albums during the early 2000s. In January 2009 it was confirmed that Allen and the other original members of Mott the Hoople would reform for two 40th anniversary reunion concerts in October 2009. This was later expanded to cover five dates, all at the

Hammersmith Apollo The Hammersmith Apollo, currently called the Eventim Apollo for sponsorship reasons, and formerly and still commonly known as the Hammersmith Odeon, is a live entertainment performance venue, originally built as a cinema called the Gaumont Pa ...

. A further five-date tour followed, in November 2013, covering dates across the UK.

References

External links

Verden Allen BiographyVerden Allen entries at WorldCat.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Verden 1944 births Living people People from Neath Port Talbot Welsh keyboardists Welsh rock musicians Welsh male songwriters Mott the Hoople members Glam rock musicians Welsh organists British male organists 21st-century British organists 21st-century British male musicians British male songwriters