Terry Allen

Noth­ing is writ­ten about vo­cal­ist Terry Allen’s early life. Allen first ap­pears in the his­tor­i­cal record in early 1938, when he joined Red Norvo’s or­ches­tra, work­ing along­side famed singer Mil­dred Bai­ley, who was also Norvo’s wife. Allen re­mained with Norvo after the band re­or­ga­nized at the end of 1938, and when Bai­ley left the or­ches­tra for health rea­sons in early Jan­u­ary 1939 Allen be­came sole vo­cal­ist.

Norvo’s band went through a rough pe­riod in sum­mer 1939, and Norvo put the group on hia­tus that Au­gust. Allen then joined Larry Clin­ton, where he stayed until be­com­ing part of Will Bradley’s or­ches­tra in Jan­u­ary 1941. When Bradley’s co-​leader, Ray McKin­ley, left the group in Jan­u­ary 1942, Allen re­mained with Bradley.

Bradley de­cided to give up lead­ing his or­ches­tra for health rea­sons in June 1942, and he of­fered Allen the job of fronting it. Allen turned him down and in­stead joined Claude Thorn­hill, where he re­placed Dick Hard­ing. Allen stayed only a cou­ple of months with Thorn­hill be­fore join­ing Hal McIn­tyre’s or­ches­tra. Allen soon fell vic­tim to the draft, how­ever, leav­ing in Oc­to­ber for the Navy. He was sta­tioned at Nor­folk, Vir­ginia, where he sang with Saxie Dow­ell’s naval band.

Allen ap­par­ently suf­fered an in­jury or af­flic­tion in 1944 as he spent two-​and-a-half months in the hos­pi­tal be­fore being given an hon­or­able dis­charge mid-​year. Re­ports sug­gested he would form his own band. He in­stead joined Johnny Long’s or­ches­tra, though he did not stay. He earned his own daily CBS radio pro­gram in Sep­tem­ber and be­came a reg­u­lar per­former at the fa­mous Stage Door Can­teen.

Allen recorded for the At­lantic label in 1948, singing film com­poser David Broek­man’s “Jade Green,” an ex­per­i­men­tal, ex­otic tune. He con­tin­ued singing into the 1950s.

Sources

  1. Simon, George T. The Big Bands. 4th ed. New York: Schirmer, 1981.
  2. The Online Discographical Project. Accessed 27 Jul. 2015.
  3. “'Illness Split Ork', Says Norvo.” Down Beat Jan. 1939: 2.
  4. “Terry Allen Changes.” Down Beat Sep. 1939: 13.
  5. “F. Leary Junks Horn to Sing.” Down Beat 15 Nov. 1939: 4.
  6. “New Recordings Are Announced.” Berkeley Daily Gazette 4 Sep. 1940: 8.
  7. “Butch Stone, Carroll Join Larry Clinton.” Down Beat 1 Feb. 1941: 12.
  8. Gum, Coburn. “On the Records.” St. Petersburg Times 1 Jun. 1941.
  9. “Separate Bands for Will and Ray.” Billboard 31 Jan. 1942: 9.
  10. “Here's That New Will Bradley Band.” Down Beat 15 Apr. 1942: 3.
  11. “Orchestra Notes.” Billboard 27 Jun. 1942: 21.
  12. “Will Bradley Drops Band.” Down Beat 1 Jul. 1942: 3.
  13. “Orchestra Notes.” Billboard 8 Aug. 1942: 23.
  14. “McIntyre Has New Boy Singer.” Down Beat 15 Nov. 1942: 2.
  15. “Saxie Dowell Defends Bands in the Service.” Down Beat 1 Jan. 1943: 11.
  16. “Music Grapevine.” Billboard 5 Aug. 1944: 16.
  17. “T. Allen, Ex-Gob, With Long.” Billboard 26 Aug. 1944: 16.
  18. “Music Grapevine.” Billboard 16 Sep. 1944: 19.
  19. “Terry Allen Grabs Weekly Air Show.” Down Beat 1 Oct. 1944: 13.
  20. “Music Grapevine.” Billboard 7 Oct. 1944: 20.
  21. “Premature Singling and Fronting Hurts Chirps, Sideman, Say Handlers.” Billboard 2 Mar. 1946: 16.
  22. “The Wax Works.” St. Petersburg Times 28 Nov. 1948: n. pag.
  23. “Record Reviews.” Billboard 18 Dec. 1948: 35.
  24. Niccoli, Ria A.“Dixie Gets Daily Radio Airing.” Down Beat 23 Mar. 1951: 4.