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Norm Allen has sung a lot of songs in his day, starting out as a young boy in a farming community in East Texas in front of a little church audience at 6 years old. His mother’s love for music was instilled in him as they stood together listening to Ray Charles’ records, and of course Elvis, at the kitchen sink as she washed the supper dishes.
He was further influenced by his grandmother who used to stop by on the weekends to take him to “all day singin’s and dinner on the ground” events giving him an exposure to Southern Gospel quartets and harmonies, all the time unknowingly training him to develop a sense of hearing that would serve well to identify his natural talent to sing. The high school band was the first formal training in music, as a drummer, but his real love was vocalizing. Picking up the guitar at 15 years old, it was a slow start since he is left-handed and had to learn the basics of the instrument on a right-handed guitar. The teenage years of the 60’s and the music of that era, was his school.
By 1978, after a stint in India as a Peace Corps Volunteer, going through college as a minister, and singing in countless youth groups and churches, Norm took a leap of confidence, by deciding that music would be his profession. His first full-time gig was on a circuit for Chelsea Street Pubs, based in Austin, Texas, that took him on a tour that lasted 7 years, playing 6 nights per week, 2 weeks in each city, from Gainesville, Florida to Tucson, Arizona and most places in between. In 1987, Norm became the headliner in a resort hotel on the Outer Banks of North Carolina as well as a daytime radio personality, recording studio owner, and promotions man. ’88-’91 He played in Nashville, Panama City, Alexandria, Virginia and he and his wife Nancy ended up in Southern California in a very successful entrepreneurial business that allowed him to audition for television and movie parts. Norm’s destiny wasn’t the movies, but it was part of his education again as the music drive continued with the formation of “The TrafficJammers” with LA guitarist Robbie Rondou and bassist, Truitt Pratt, from the “one hit wonder” band Pratt & McClain ( “The Theme to Happy Days”).
Recording the “Lovin’ The South” project in Bakersfield, California with none other than Buck Owens’ Buckaroos as his support band, Norm’s writing talent is showcased as well as a testimonial to his tenacity in expressing his creative spirit. That spirit was again let loose in the “So Far, So Good” project produced with LA song man, Patrick Robinson, well known in the Albert Lee, Jackson Browne circles. After the entire journey, Norm Allen has emerged as a seasoned performer with talents turned to skill.
There is more to the story, as chapters are being written again with Norm Allen being recognized as a record producer, a creative promotions man, a radio personality, writer, television personality, and a man willing to help other artists achieve their dreams. His strong personality and his Christian experience equip him to bring professionalism to the stage that will keep an audience entertained, as has been proven over and over again throughout his 30 years of doing what he loves
