Steve Allen (born Alan Stephenson) is a New Zealand singer and recording artist who found popularity as a singer during the 1970s. He is also known for the hit song " Join Together", and the song for the television commercial, "Use Your Nana".

Background

Early on in his career he was the lead guitarist and vocalist with a

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group called the Lost Souls. He left the group in 1968 to go solo. The following year he had a single "This Old Man" bw "Just You Wait" on the

HMV Sunrise Records and Entertainment, trading as HMV (for His Master's Voice), is a British music and entertainment retailer, currently operating exclusively in the United Kingdom. The first HMV-branded store was opened by the Gramophone Company ...

label. He was credited as Stevie Allen. In 1972 the single "Life On Mars" backed with three

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compositions was released. The A side and the medley of "Baby I'm-A Want You", "Everything I Own" and "Diary" on the B side was produced by Don Richardson. In 1973, he was at his peak. He had received the RATA award for Best Male Vocalist. He also had a no 1 hit with his version of

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hit " Top Of The World". The song that he wrote, Join Together" was a hit in 1973. In June that year the song was competing against songs sung by

Ray Columbus Raymond John Patrick Columbus (4 November 1942 – 29 November 2016) was a New Zealand Benny Award-winning singer and songwriter, television host, music manager and entertainer, with a career spanning six decades. As the lead singer of Ray Colum ...

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, and

Deane Waretini Deane Waretini (born c. 1946) is a musician from New Zealand. He had a #1 chart hit in 1981 with the song "The Bridge (Deane Waretini song), The Bridge", a Māori language song set to Nini Rosso's tune "Il Silenzio (song), Il Silenzio". He is al ...

. It became the theme song for the 1974 Commonwealth Games. His final single release was on the

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label in 1980. The single "Out Of Control" was done in duet with Kim Hart. In 1982, he released an album of children's songs on the

Ode An ode (from grc, ᾠδή, ōdḗ) is a type of lyric poetry. Odes are elaborately structured poems praising or glorifying an event or individual, describing nature intellectually as well as emotionally. A classic ode is structured in three majo ...

label. By the mid-1990s, he was in Napier running a book shop. In 2011, working as a real estate agent and having been out of the music business for two decades, he was contacted by Mark Tudehope from Christchurch. Tudehope wanted to have the song recorded again for the current times. Allen was more than happy to do it, and the song was recorded at Auckland's Montage Studio in June that year.''

Hawkes Bay Today ''Hawke's Bay Today'' is a daily compact newspaper published in Hastings, New Zealand and serving Hastings, Napier and the Hawke's Bay region. It is owned by APN News & Media. The ''Hawke's Bay Today'' is New Zealand's youngest newspaper, foun ...

'', Saturday Jul 30, 201
Let's 'join together' again by Amy Shanks
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Discography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Steve New Zealand real estate agents Viking Records artists 20th-century New Zealand male singers Living people 1950 births Year of birth uncertain