Christie Allen

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. (help, get involved!)
Any material not supported by sources may be challenged and removed at any time. This article has been tagged since April 2007.

Christie Allen (born 1954 in England) is a pop singer who had a successful career as a recording artist in her adopted homeland of Australia.

Allen was performing with a band in Perth when she came to the attention of songwriter and record producer Terry Britten after virtually knocking on his door according to a Christie interview on Sounds. Britten, a former member of The Twilights, had previously worked with Cliff Richard and would go on to write "What's Love Got To Do With It" for Tina Turner. Impressed by Allen's vocal ability and bubbly personality, he began working with her and a recording contract with Mushroom Records resulted.

Her first three singles from her debut album Magic Rhythm were substantial hits. The first single was a ballad "Falling In Love With Only You" reaching number 20 in 1979. Her next two singles were strongly influenced by the popular disco style - "Goosebumps" reached number 3 in 1979, and "He's My Number One" reached number 4 in 1980. With sales of 60,000, "Goosebumps" would be Allen's greatest success and was one of Mushroom Record's highest selling singles at that time.

Allen was voted the country's most popular female performer at the Countdown Awards in 1979 and 1980.

Allen was also the voice and star of the commercials for the soft drink Tarino - a Fanta like orange drink. If the jingle 'Come Tarino with Me' would have been released as a single it in all likelihood would have topped the charts.

She released a handful of singles in 1980 and 81 from her second and final album Detour produced by John Hudson. - "Switchboard", "Baby Get Away" and "Don't Put Out The Flame" but they were only mildly successful. Terry Britten had now moved on and was having success with Tina Turner and also writing songs for the bomb now cult The Pirate Movie stariing Kristy McNichol. A long illness and relationship troubles prevented Allen from adequately promoting her career and she subsequently retired. By the 1990s she had resumed her singing career and performed as a vocalist with country music bands. She appeared in a televised tribute concert for the Mushroom record label singing "Goosebumps" and seemed very excited to be asked to perform.