Jan Allain
Jan Allain's career is testament to how the energy of talent and creativity will succeed, above and without the lumbering and fickle machinery that is the music business. A woman who has paved her own way into our musical hearts.
Here are songs of surprise, even a second time around, and a skip along a summer beach can soon lead us into the contemplation of the deepest ocean. A song-writing force of great subtlety and stealth, Jan's songs slip beneath our sheets and soon become sweet company for our daily lives, difficult to part with. They allow us to see into her life, and then suddenly into our own. This is what I have always wanted from a songwriter: companionship in experience. Jan offers this with great honesty, humor, and humility.
Follow her down, and keep this with you at all times - it will help.
Gary Kemp, London, 2000
‘Intelligent lyrics riding high on classy melodies’ Time Out.
‘Britain’s best kept songwriting secret’ Rollingstone.
‘A song-writing force of great subtlety and stealth’ Gary Kemp. ( taken from text above)
Jan Allain’s musical journey began aged ten when she was awarded runner up in the 1968 Islington Children’s Song Contest. She went on to win New York’s ‘Folk City Songwriter’s Night’ in 1980 beating a certain Suzanne Vega. Jan Allain carved her own niche in Germany where she has toured extensively for more than two decades playing a wide repertoire of songs from her six independently recorded albums. London fans will know her best from her storming band concerts at Hackney’s Vortex Jazz Bar through the 1990’s.
More recently Jan sent a fan letter of appreciation to The Alessi Brothers for ‘Oh Lori’ thanking them for one of the defining songs in the soundtrack of her life. They stayed in touch and in June 2008 she asked to support them at her Hackney home venue in this special U.K. concert.
Jan Allain currently lives in Dalston Hackney and is working on her forthcoming album.
Ms Allain crosses musical borders with great ease. Her songs pick up on blues, country, jazz and Latin rhythms and dive through elements of swing, chanson and pop arriving somewhere very beautiful and original. Her perspective on life is essentially woman-centered but her lyrics, charged with poetical artistry and humour, transcend feminism. An accomplished rhythm guitarist and versatile singer who interprets her own songs with a natural charisma and charm.