Jonathon Allen is an English singer-songwriter. His debut album '' Dead Man's Suit'' was released in 2009.

Early life

Jon Allen was born in 1977 in Winchester When he was 7 he moved with his family to South Devon. While he was attending secondary school he began playing the drums and guitar. When he was 15, he started recording songs on a cassette-based four-track machine. On leaving school Allen attended college completing a BTEC in performing arts. Whilst performing in various local bands he auditioned and was accepted at the

Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) is a performing arts higher education institution in Liverpool, founded by Paul McCartney and Mark Featherstone-Witty and opened in 1996. LIPA offers 11 full-time BA (Hons) degrees in a range ...

(LIPA). This is where he met

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

, who encouraged him to continue as a songwriter.

Career

Following his graduating from LIPA, Allen moved to London, after one of his demos received a five-star review in the magazine '' Making Music''. Management offers in London soon followed. There, a gig circuit was performed where Allen met members of his future band including Hammond organ player Rich Milner, who Allen spotted at a gig in South London. Milner introduced Allen to Tristan Longworth who went on to produce and record his debut album, '' Dead Man's Suit''. In a 2018 interview, Jon Allen revealed that a source of inspiration in his songwriting is

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

, while his musical style (particularly in the ''Blue Flame'') have been influenced by the compositions of

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...

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and

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. In 2022 he began playing band show under the name 'Jon Allen & The Luna Kings'. On Thursday, 13 July 2023 The Luna Kings supported Icelandic rock band Kaleo at The Royal Palace Baarn in the Netherlands. Allen has toured with

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Seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to impr ...

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and

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among others.

Debut album

The song "Going Home" featured on the worldwide

Land Rover Land Rover is a British brand of predominantly four-wheel drive, off-road capable vehicles, owned by multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), since 2008 a subsidiary of India's Tata Motors. JLR currently builds Land Rovers ...

TV commercial in 2008 bringing him wider recognition. In 2009, Allen signed with Absolute Distribution and released his debut album ''Dead Man's Suit''. Shortly after this Allen signed a publishing deal with Wardlaw Music.

Side projects

As a founder member of northern soul production team, The Third Degree, he co-produced and sung one of the most widely recognised cover versions of the Duffy song

Mercy Mercy (Middle English, from Anglo-French ''merci'', from Medieval Latin ''merced-'', ''merces'', from Latin, "price paid, wages", from ''merc-'', ''merxi'' "merchandise") is benevolence, forgiveness, and kindness in a variety of ethical, relig ...

TV appearances and radio broadcasts

*Appearance on The Quay Sessions BBC Scotland (2018) *Appearance on Vintage TV Live Sessions (2015) *Appearance on '' The Late Late Show'' on RTÉ (2015) *Appearance on '' Later... with Jools Holland'' on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

on 15 May 2009. *"Last Orders" performed live to close

Glastonbury Festival Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemp ...

(2011) *Appeared live at

Pinkpop Festival The Pinkpop Festival is an annual music festival held at Landgraaf, Netherlands. It is usually held on the Pentecost weekend (''Pinksteren'' in Dutch, hence the name). If Pentecost falls on an early date in May, the festival is held later in June. ...

the Netherlands (2009)

TV and film syncs

Loving Arms
appeared in the 2018 film ''

What They Had ''What They Had'' is a 2018 American drama film written and directed by Elizabeth Chomko (in her feature directorial debut) and starring Hilary Swank, Michael Shannon, Robert Forster, Blythe Danner, Taissa Farmiga, and Josh Lucas. The film had ...

'' starring

Hilary Swank Hilary Ann Swank (born July 30, 1974) is an American actress and film producer. She first became known in 1992 for her role on the television series '' Camp Wilder'' and made her film debut with a minor role in ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' (1992 ...

*In Your Light appeared in the South Korean TV drama series ''Live OST'' (2018) *Get What's Mine appeared in the 2016 comedy drama film '' Army of One'' starring

Nicolas Cage Nicolas Kim Coppola (born January 7, 1964), known professionally as Nicolas Cage, is an American actor and film producer. Born into the Coppola family, he is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Gu ...

*Joanna appeared in the 2013 romantic drama thriller '' Safe Haven'' and the Showtime drama series ''

Homeland A homeland is a place where a cultural, national, or racial identity has formed. The definition can also mean simply one's country of birth. When used as a proper noun, the Homeland, as well as its equivalents in other languages, often has ethni ...

'' *Sweet Defeat and Joanna appeared in the 2013 Fox sit-com ''

The Goodwin Games ''The Goodwin Games'' is an American sitcom series that aired as a midseason replacement on Fox from May 20 to July 1, 2013. It was created and written by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas (creators of ''How I Met Your Mother'') alongside Chris Harris ...

'' * Sweet Defeat appeared in the 2011 comedy drama ''

The Oranges The Oranges are a group of four municipalities in Essex County, New Jersey, all of which have the word ''Orange'' in their name. The four municipalities are Orange, East Orange, South Orange and West Orange. All of these communities were name ...

''
When The Morning Comes
featuring Amy Smith appeared in the drama series ''

Bones A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, an ...

Songs written for other artists

In 2018 Allen wrote the song 'Sing From Your Heart' for the international youth choir Young Voices. It has since been performed worldwide.

Spotify

*In 2018 'Keep On Walking' was added to Spotify's 'A Perfect Day' playlist.

Discography

Studio albums

*'' Dead Man's Suit'' (2009) *'' Sweet Defeat'' (2011) *'' Deep River'' (2014) *''Blue Flame'' (2018) *''...meanwhile'' (2021) *''A Heightened Sense of Everything'' (2023)

Singles

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Jon 1977 births Living people English male singer-songwriters English singer-songwriters English male guitarists English rock singers English rock guitarists Alumni of the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts Musicians from London 21st-century English singers 21st-century British guitarists 21st-century British male singers