Verden Allen (born Terence Allen, 26 May 1944,

Crynant Crynant ( cy, Y Creunant) 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 ...

Neath Neath (; cy, Castell-nedd) 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 po ...

, Wales) is a british organ player and vocalist best known as a founding member of 1970s rock band

Mott the Hoople Mott the Hoople were an English rock band formed in Herefordshire. Originally known as the Doc Thomas Group, the group changed their name after signing with Island Records in 1969. The band released albums throughout the early 1970s but fail ...

. 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 in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

cover Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of co ...

band called The Inmates and recorded with

Jimmy Cliff James Chambers 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 hold the Order of Merit, t ...

. 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 to ...

''. 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 the original release. After he left Mott, he joined up with future

Pretenders Pretenders may refer to: * The Pretenders Pretenders are an English–American rock band formed in March 1978. The original band consisted of founder and main songwriter Chrissie Hynde (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), James Honeyman-Scott (le ...

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. With the band, Honeyman-Scott established a reputation, in the words of AllMusic, as "one of th ...

and

Martin Chambers Martin Dale Chambers (born 4 September 1951 in Hereford) is an English musician, who is best known as a founding member and drummer of the rock band the Pretenders. In addition to playing the drums with the group, Chambers sings backing vocals ...

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 Angel Airlines, trading as Angel Air, was an airline based in Bangkok, Thailand, which was operational between 1998 and 2003. Destinations Over the years, Angel Airlines flew to the following destinations: Thailand * Bangkok — Don Mueang In ...

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 known as the Hammersmith Odeon, is a live entertainment performance venue, originally built as a cinema called the Gaumont Palace. Located in Ham ...

. 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 songwriters Mott the Hoople members Glam rock musicians Welsh organists British male organists 21st-century organists 21st-century British male musicians British male songwriters