Hi! I’m Greg Allen.
I'm originally from Toledo, Ohio then 21 years in Chicago (dance club heaven!) and now the last 7 years in Nashville, TN.
My musical tastes are extremely eclectic! I started out with Tommy James and the Shondells. Other favorite groups along the way were ELO, Black Sabbath, Yes.
In 1980, I was exposed to Funk at Kent State University and I was in LOVE! For the next 10 years, I went to countless Toledo dance clubs, bought funk singles and 12" singles. My favorite funk groups were, #1 Zapp and Roger, then The Gap Band and Midnight Star. Others that registered were The Deele, Alexander O’Neal, The Dramatics (Live it up! a hard to find record now, I think), SOS Band, Cherrelle, ABC (The Look of Love), Mtume, Evelyn Champagne King, Cheryl Lynn, Klymaxx, Pebbles, One Way, Spyder D, WHodini, Cameo, LL Cool J and Kool Moe Dee (the Wild Wild West). Not to mention Madonna and the Pet Shop Boys.
When got to Chicago, it was the early 90s and I remember hearing my first Eurodance tune. I was enthralled. The group was Culture Beat and favorites are 'I like You', 'Take Me Away', 'Mr. Vain', 'Crying in the rain'. I grew to love Eurodance groups such as Corona, Le Click, Le Bouche, Snap!, Captain Hollywood, Scatman John, Rednex, Haddaway and on and on.
My next musical epiphany occurred in Chicago while at the huge Tower records when I discovered a very important album to me in Paul van Dyk’s 'The Politics of Dancing'. That exposed me to 4 Strings. Van Dyk is still my favorite Trance DJ but I also like Armin van Buuren (Burned with Desire), Markus Schulz, Kaskade.
I also got into Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream and other pioneering electronic groups such as Kraftwerk. I even wrote a 2008 book called, 'Klaus Schulze: Electronic music Legend' which is pushing the 1000 mark in sales.
After COVID hit in March of 2020, I decided to make some music but I didn’t want to pull over my synthesizer to the couch area, which was so crowded. So, I set out in Garageband and quick realized it was a beat makers heaven! I could create funk, house and trance mixed with funk, I made a reggae song (reggae is another huge love of mine with favorites Steel Pulse and Burning Spear. I discovered Cali Roots Riddim by Collie Buddz not too long ago and for a long time reggae lover, it captures so much of what I love about reggae. One of my most important reggae discoveries ever!!!
So I worked about a year, most every day, on beat oriented songs, a little chill and the reggae song. The longest I spent was 2 months on one song.
The album is Riding the Beat by Greg Allen and I also personally stocked my radio station with about 150 songs in the dance vein. The fun thing is that Pandora taught me a lot of new, fascinating songs! I also just finished a playlist of 175 dance music songs called 'Greg Allen’s Best of Dance Music'.
I hope you’ll give my first dance music album (I did an ambient album previously) a listen and my Playlist radio station will show you what makes me tick, dance music-wise.
Thanks, Greg
