About the Rance Allen Group

Born to Thomas and Emma Pearl Allen in Monroe, Michigan in 1948, Rance Allen had eleven siblings.  by the age of five he preached his first sermon and started his singing aspirations.  By the time he was seven, he was playing the piano and at nine years of age he was preaching and singing the gospel throughout Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

With his brothers Tom Allen and Steve Allen, Rance founded the Rance Allen Group in Detroit in the 1960s and has fronted the band with his soulful, soaring vocals ever since. The traditionally trained black gospel group was the first traditional gospel group to incorporate rock, jazz, and soul into their music. They were harbingers for the contemporary Christian music movement popularized in the late '70s by Andrae Crouch, Amy Grant, and the Winans.

Some of the group’s releases include Phenomenon (1991), Straight from the Heart (1995), Up Above My Head (1995), A Soulful Experience (1996), Let the Music Get Down in Your Soul (1997), Miracle Worker (2000), All the Way (2002), The Live Experience (2004) and Front Row Live (2007). On the heels of their Front Row Live CD was yet another soon-to-be classic, Closest Friend (2007).  This 15-track masterpiece features a harmonious blending of traditional sounds, R&B flavor, and that Rance Allen Group flare that fans have grown to love.

Fans will be hard-pressed to fit the lead single/title track “Closest Friend” into any particular category. It encompasses urban contemporary, quartet gospel, contemporary gospel and more. The entire album has already been defined as “classic heart & soul” that fills the heart and touches the soul; also strikes a chord among listeners of all ages.