Duane David Allen (born April 29, 1943) is an American singer/songwriter who had formal training in both operatic and quartet singing before becoming a member of

The Oak Ridge Boys The Oak Ridge Boys are an American country and gospel vocal quartet originating in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The group was founded in the 1940s as the Oak Ridge Quartet. They became popular in Southern gospel during the 1950s. Their name was chang ...

in 1966. Allen is the lead singer for the quartet and is heard on the majority of their most successful songs.

Biography

Duane is considered the President and CEO of the group. His personal hobby is the Oak Ridge Boys. He is active on social media and feels obligated to respond quickly to his fans. He also plans out how many tour days they need each year for his employees to live comfortably. They still tour roughly 150 days per year. He was inducted in the Texas Gospel Music Hall of Fame. He attended

East Texas State University East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

graduating in 1966, where he was a member of

Delta Tau Delta Delta Tau Delta () is a United States-based international Greek letter college fraternity. Delta Tau Delta was founded at Bethany College, Bethany, Virginia, (now West Virginia) in 1858. The fraternity currently has around 130 collegiate chapter ...

International Fraternity. On August 9, 2014, Allen was inducted into the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame. The rest of The Oak Ridge Boys—

Joe Bonsall Joseph Sloan Bonsall Jr. (born May 18, 1948) is an American singer who has been the tenor of the country/gospel vocal quartet The Oak Ridge Boys since October 1973. He is also an author. Besides charting numerous hits as a member of the Oak Rid ...

William Lee Golden William Lee Golden (born January 12, 1939) is an American country music singer. Between 1965 and 1987, and again since December 1995, he has been the baritone singer in the country vocal group The Oak Ridge Boys. Career Golden joined The Oak Rid ...

, and

Richard Sterban Richard Anthony Sterban (born April 24, 1943) is an American singer. He was born in Camden, New Jersey. In 1973, he joined the country and gospel quartet The Oak Ridge Boys, in which he sings bass. Personal life Born in Camden, New Jersey, Ster ...

—were also inducted as honorary members.

Honors

Back in 2014, Duane received a memorial bridge honor in his hometown in Texas. "I did not know until our bus turned down the small road that the bridge was on ‘our’ road," the singer said. "It was a complete surprise. I thought it would be south of our place, but when we turned down ‘our’ road, now named the Duane Allen Road, my stomach just about came out of my body. I was so thrilled that I did not have the proper words to express myself. I was still emotionally charged when I tried to speak.” In October 2018 the Paris Junior College in Lamar County named a stage after him in his honor.

Personal life

He is married to Norah Lee Allen, a backup singer on the Grand Ole Opry. Daughter Jamie is married to musician Paul Martin, formerly of Exile, more recently of Marty Stuart and the Fabulous Superlatives,The Marty Stuart Show and they have several children. They formed a family band called Rockland Road. Son Dee is also a musician. He is part of a group called Tall Dark Stranger. Duane and Norah live in

Hendersonville, Tennessee Hendersonville is the largest city in Sumner County, Tennessee, on Old Hickory Lake. The population was 61,753 at the 2020 census. Hendersonville is the fourth-largest city in the Nashville metropolitan area after Nashville, Murfreesboro, ...

References

2. https://web.archive.org/web/20160403210531/http://www.cmacloseup.com/2014/04/oak-ridge-boys-duane-allen-receives-memorial-bridge-honor/ 3. http://theboot.com/oak-ridge-boys-duane-allen-retirement/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Duane 1943 births Living people People from Lamar County, Texas Country musicians from Texas American country singer-songwriters The Oak Ridge Boys members Texas A&M University–Commerce alumni Singer-songwriters from Texas