Music / Religion
Rance Allen
1948–2020 · gospel singer, songwriter, bishop
Monroe, Michigan-born gospel singer with a huge vocal range, who founded the Rance Allen Group in Detroit in 1969 and was signed by Stax after a Detroit talent contest.
- Born
Monroe, Michigan- Died
aged 71- Also known as
- Bishop Rance Allen
- Detroit years
- 1969–1970s
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Allen was born in Monroe, south of Detroit, one of twelve children, and in 1969 founded the Rance Allen Group in Detroit with his brothers Thomas on drums and Steve on bass. At a gospel talent contest in Detroit they caught the attention of a judge, Stax Records promoter Dave Clark, which led to a contract with the Memphis label and its Gospel Truth imprint; their records applied soul and rock arrangements to gospel, and the group appeared on the Wattstax recordings. Allen's extremely wide range and powerful voice made him one of gospel's most admired singers, and the group earned five Grammy nominations, including for Phenomenon (1991). He performed with the Clark Sisters, the Winans, Kirk Franklin and many others, and sang for President Barack Obama at a White House gospel celebration. From 1985 he was pastor of New Bethel Church of God in Christ in Toledo, Ohio, and in 2011 he became a COGIC bishop. He died in 2020.
Highlights
- Founded the Rance Allen Group in Detroit (1969)
- Signed to Stax after a Detroit gospel talent contest
- Five Grammy nominations
- Sang at a White House gospel celebration for President Obama
- COGIC bishop from 2011