Foster & Allen
Encyclopedia
Foster and Allen are a musical duo from Ireland
consisting of Mick Foster and Tony Allen.
bands around Ireland
. In 1975, they formed a small group and went over to the UK
to work the Irish music venues on a short tour.
They had at this stage the idea of working together as a duo, playing easy listening
music with traditional Irish instrumental
s. When their UK tour finished they decided to let the band return to Ireland whilst they stayed behind to try to break into the public eye. They played several venues in the London area and the reaction was favourable; they decided to remain as a duo, and Foster and Allen was formed.
After a time working around the circuit in the UK and Ireland, they released their first single
, "The Rambles of Spring". This made an impact on the Irish market and Foster and Allen were soon in demand for cabaret venues all over Ireland and, to a lesser extent, the UK At the end of 1978, Foster and Allen released the single, "A Bunch of Thyme" in Ireland, and it entered the Irish chart and became their first #1 single. It is also one of the first blues
songs to become a hit in Ireland, and is a melodic cousin of "Careless Love" and "Worries on my Mind".
It was not until 1982 that this single was released in the UK. It was played by all the radio stations in Britain, and peaked at #18 in the UK Singles Chart
. At the time, Foster and Allen were in the United States
on a tour. They were contacted and told to fly back to the UK to appear on BBC Television
's Top of the Pops
.
Demand for Foster and Allen's services at venues all over Ireland and the UK increased at this point. They released another single, "Old Flames", which peaked at #51 in the UK chart. They undertook their first concert tour of the UK in 1983, and this tour was boosted by the release of another single "Maggie
". This reached #27 in the UK Singles Chart, and along with A Bunch Of Thyme, became the signature tunes for the duo. Since then they have toured the UK twice each year.
In addition to the UK tours, Foster and Allen have toured the US, Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. They had five #1 hits in Australia and New Zealand. They have also appeared on numerous TV shows in Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales, as well as Australia, US and Canada, and they have had their own TV series on RTE
Television in Ireland.
In the early days, Mick Foster and Tony Allen performed on stage as a duo, but in 1982 (when the concert tours started) they added a band to their show thus giving a much fuller sound to their program. On the recording front, Foster and Allen have to date released twenty seven albums, all of which entered the UK Albums Chart
.
As well as the albums, they have released thirteen videos. The video "Souvenirs and Memories" reached #3 in the UK video chart around Christmas 1991, the "By Request" video went straight into the #1 spot in 1993. Their latest DVD/Video release "After All These Years" became Top 10 in the UK. To date, Foster and Allen have achieved album and video sales in excess of 19 million worldwide.
Foster and Allen celebrated their 30th Anniversary together in the music industry, with the release of their album, Foster and Allen Sing The No. 1's, which was a Top 30 hit in the UK Albums Chart during Christmas 2005. This brought the sales of their last three albums in the UK and Ireland to over 500,000 units.
The duo completed their 'World Concert Tour – 2005/2006' which took them on tour to the United Kingdom, Canada
, South Africa
, Ireland
, US and Australia. The duo toured Australia again in June 2010.
In 2011, the High Court ruled they must pay around €3 million each to Revenue.
player while his mother was a singer. Allen started playing the accordion
after one of his brothers brought him an accordion home from England. It was not long before he joined the Mary Landers (a local band) and, in turn, joined the Kieran Kelly Band replacing Brendan Shine
. In 1973, along with his brother, Tom, Allen was part of Doc Carroll's Nightrunners Showband. It was another Athlone man, Kevin Sheerin, who recommended Allen for the job in this band. They used to play mostly around the Midlands and a residency in the Irish Club, Parnell Square, Dublin every Tuesday night.
Allen opened a recording studio in Moate, Roseland Studios, and most major acts in Ireland record their albums there. He is motivated by music, and with having the studio, he is now directing his interests into the technical side of the business.
, in sight of the Curragh. He now lives in Mullingar
, and has a small farm where he spends all his time, when not touring, looking after his horses. He has three daughters; Denise, Louise and Sandra, and one son; Jackie. He has two grandchildren by Jackie; Daniel (born 1986) and Sarah (born 1990) who appeared with him in the video The Little Unicorn.
Foster was taught to play the accordion by a Westmeath nun and Frankie Gavigan. Other influences on his playing included Jimmy Shand
and Will Starr
. He has recorded a tribute to the latter, entitled The Old Button Box and has claimed that that his accordion would probably be the last thing he would be prepared to give up.
. The characters are called "Fester and Ailin'" and have been seen on Irish television satirically arguing with Foster and Allen with each claiming the other copied their act. Fester and Ailin' claim to be the originals with Fester claiming "(he) came out of the womb with that accordion on (him)". Fester and Ailin' also claimed that Foster and Allen's song "Bunch of Thyme" was a stolen copy of their original work, "Bunch of Lesbians". Fester and Ailin's other songs include "Tropical Diseases", "The Monkey Song" and "Doing the Wife's Sisters on the Sly".
They are also the inspiration for Vic and Bob
's deranged folk duo, Mulligan and O'Hare, though Mulligan (Vic) also bears a striking resemblance to Terry Wogan
.
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
consisting of Mick Foster and Tony Allen.
History
Foster and Allen began back in the 1970s when Foster and Allen were playing in country musicCountry music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
bands around Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
. In 1975, they formed a small group and went over to the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
to work the Irish music venues on a short tour.
They had at this stage the idea of working together as a duo, playing easy listening
Easy listening
Easy listening is a broad style of popular music and radio format that emerged in the 1950s, evolving out of big band music, and related to MOR music as played on many AM radio stations. It encompasses the exotica, beautiful music, light music, lounge music, ambient music, and space age pop genres...
music with traditional Irish instrumental
Instrumental
An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing, although it might include some non-articulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments....
s. When their UK tour finished they decided to let the band return to Ireland whilst they stayed behind to try to break into the public eye. They played several venues in the London area and the reaction was favourable; they decided to remain as a duo, and Foster and Allen was formed.
After a time working around the circuit in the UK and Ireland, they released their first single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
, "The Rambles of Spring". This made an impact on the Irish market and Foster and Allen were soon in demand for cabaret venues all over Ireland and, to a lesser extent, the UK At the end of 1978, Foster and Allen released the single, "A Bunch of Thyme" in Ireland, and it entered the Irish chart and became their first #1 single. It is also one of the first blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
songs to become a hit in Ireland, and is a melodic cousin of "Careless Love" and "Worries on my Mind".
It was not until 1982 that this single was released in the UK. It was played by all the radio stations in Britain, and peaked at #18 in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
. At the time, Foster and Allen were in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on a tour. They were contacted and told to fly back to the UK to appear on BBC Television
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
's Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
.
Demand for Foster and Allen's services at venues all over Ireland and the UK increased at this point. They released another single, "Old Flames", which peaked at #51 in the UK chart. They undertook their first concert tour of the UK in 1983, and this tour was boosted by the release of another single "Maggie
When You and I Were Young, Maggie
When You and I Were Young, Maggie is a famous folk song, popular song and standard. Though Springtown, Tennessee, has a small monument outside an old mill claiming the song was written by a local George Johnson, in 1820, for his Maggie, the truth is that its lyrics were written as a poem by the...
". This reached #27 in the UK Singles Chart, and along with A Bunch Of Thyme, became the signature tunes for the duo. Since then they have toured the UK twice each year.
In addition to the UK tours, Foster and Allen have toured the US, Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. They had five #1 hits in Australia and New Zealand. They have also appeared on numerous TV shows in Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales, as well as Australia, US and Canada, and they have had their own TV series on RTE
Raidió Teilifís Éireann
Raidió Teilifís Éireann is a semi-state company and the public service broadcaster of Ireland. It both produces programmes and broadcasts them on television, radio and the Internet. The radio service began on January 1, 1926, while regular television broadcasts began on December 31, 1961, making...
Television in Ireland.
In the early days, Mick Foster and Tony Allen performed on stage as a duo, but in 1982 (when the concert tours started) they added a band to their show thus giving a much fuller sound to their program. On the recording front, Foster and Allen have to date released twenty seven albums, all of which entered the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
.
As well as the albums, they have released thirteen videos. The video "Souvenirs and Memories" reached #3 in the UK video chart around Christmas 1991, the "By Request" video went straight into the #1 spot in 1993. Their latest DVD/Video release "After All These Years" became Top 10 in the UK. To date, Foster and Allen have achieved album and video sales in excess of 19 million worldwide.
Foster and Allen celebrated their 30th Anniversary together in the music industry, with the release of their album, Foster and Allen Sing The No. 1's, which was a Top 30 hit in the UK Albums Chart during Christmas 2005. This brought the sales of their last three albums in the UK and Ireland to over 500,000 units.
The duo completed their 'World Concert Tour – 2005/2006' which took them on tour to the United Kingdom, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, US and Australia. The duo toured Australia again in June 2010.
In 2011, the High Court ruled they must pay around €3 million each to Revenue.
Tony Allen
Allen was born on 24 February 1952, the youngest of a family of nine children. He was keen on music from an early age, and was encouraged by his parents and teachers. His father, Patrick, was a fiddleFiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
player while his mother was a singer. Allen started playing the accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
after one of his brothers brought him an accordion home from England. It was not long before he joined the Mary Landers (a local band) and, in turn, joined the Kieran Kelly Band replacing Brendan Shine
Brendan Shine
Brendan Shine is an Irish folk singer and accordion player from Athlone, best known for his songs about everyday Irish life such as "Do you Want your Old Lobby Washed Down" and "Spuds"....
. In 1973, along with his brother, Tom, Allen was part of Doc Carroll's Nightrunners Showband. It was another Athlone man, Kevin Sheerin, who recommended Allen for the job in this band. They used to play mostly around the Midlands and a residency in the Irish Club, Parnell Square, Dublin every Tuesday night.
Allen opened a recording studio in Moate, Roseland Studios, and most major acts in Ireland record their albums there. He is motivated by music, and with having the studio, he is now directing his interests into the technical side of the business.
Mick Foster
Foster was born in 1947 in County KildareCounty Kildare
County Kildare is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Mid-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the local authority for the county...
, in sight of the Curragh. He now lives in Mullingar
Mullingar
Mullingar is the county town of County Westmeath in Ireland. The Counties of Meath and Westmeath Act of 1542, proclaimed Westmeath a county, separating it from Meath. Mullingar became the administrative centre for County Westmeath...
, and has a small farm where he spends all his time, when not touring, looking after his horses. He has three daughters; Denise, Louise and Sandra, and one son; Jackie. He has two grandchildren by Jackie; Daniel (born 1986) and Sarah (born 1990) who appeared with him in the video The Little Unicorn.
Foster was taught to play the accordion by a Westmeath nun and Frankie Gavigan. Other influences on his playing included Jimmy Shand
Jimmy Shand
Sir James Shand MBE was a Scottish musician who played traditional Scottish dance music on the accordion.-Early life:...
and Will Starr
Will Starr
Will Starr was a Scottish solo accordionist.-Early life:Will Starr was born William Starrs in the mining village of Croy in Central Scotland. The oldest son of a family of eight....
. He has recorded a tribute to the latter, entitled The Old Button Box and has claimed that that his accordion would probably be the last thing he would be prepared to give up.
Contemporary influence
Foster and Allen have been mimicked by the Irish comedy puppet duo, Podge and RodgePodge and Rodge
Pádraig Judas O'Leprosy and Rodraig Spartacus O'Leprosy are the two central characters on A Scare at Bedtime, an Irish adult comedy televised puppet show. Created and performed by Ciaran Morrison and Mick O'Hara, more recently, the brothers have presented The Podge and Rodge Show, a chat show in...
. The characters are called "Fester and Ailin'" and have been seen on Irish television satirically arguing with Foster and Allen with each claiming the other copied their act. Fester and Ailin' claim to be the originals with Fester claiming "(he) came out of the womb with that accordion on (him)". Fester and Ailin' also claimed that Foster and Allen's song "Bunch of Thyme" was a stolen copy of their original work, "Bunch of Lesbians". Fester and Ailin's other songs include "Tropical Diseases", "The Monkey Song" and "Doing the Wife's Sisters on the Sly".
They are also the inspiration for Vic and Bob
Vic and Bob
Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer , more commonly known simply as Vic and Bob or Reeves and Mortimer, are a British comedy double act...
's deranged folk duo, Mulligan and O'Hare, though Mulligan (Vic) also bears a striking resemblance to Terry Wogan
Terry Wogan
Sir Michael Terence Wogan, KBE, DL , or also known as Terry Wogan, is a veteran Irish radio and television broadcaster who holds dual Irish and British citizenship. Wogan has worked for the BBC in the United Kingdom for most of his career...
.
External links
- Official website
- Discography at MusicBrainzMusicBrainzMusicBrainz is a project that aims to create an open content music database. Similar to the freedb project, it was founded in response to the restrictions placed on the CDDB...
- lyrics and chords
- Foster and Allen's website with forums