Frank Allen (bassist)

Frank Allen (born Francis Renaud McNeice, 14 December 1943, Hayes, Middlesex, England) is an English bass guitarist. He has played bass guitar with Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers and The Searchers (since 1964 when he replaced original bass guitarist Tony Jackson), who he is still with today. Allen joined Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers as rhythm guitarist in 1961, changed over to bass guitar early 1962 following the departure of Ben Jordan. Almost immediately began playing fingerstyle and slapping the bass, almost unheard of at the time in the U.K. This style was copied by many Merseyside bass guitarists who played alongside the Rebel Rousers at the Star Club in Hamburg where he met and became friends with The Searchers in early 1963.

When Tony Jackson left in August 1964 after a meteoric rise to fame and a string of hits ("Sweets for My Sweet", "Sugar and Spice", "Needles and Pins" etc.) Allen was asked to join the group. Almost immediately they went into PYE studios to record "When You Walk in the Room", a slightly new sound with Mike Pender and Frank Allen singing a dual lead line and first use of the electric twelve string guitar on one of their singles (the 12 string sound on "Needles and Pins" was in fact a resonance of two 6 string guitars).

Lately, Allen has turned to writing as a parallel occupation with a highly praised and humorous book of touring recollections called Travelling Man in 1999 (Aureus Publishing) as well as articles for newspapers and periodicals. His new offering, a definitive and detailed biography of the Searchers entitled The Searchers And Me - A History of the Legendary Sixties Hitmakers,^[1] was published by Aureus^[2] in April 2009. Consisting of over four hundred pages plus more than 160 photographs and illustrations both archive and current, it is a major account(noted writer Paul DuNoyer in his review called it a brilliant image of the British music industry) of the life of this important British group.

The Searchers, with Allen on bass guitar, founder member John McNally on lead guitar and twelve string and now aided by Spencer James (lead vocals since 1986) and with Scott Ottaway replaing Eddie Roth (drums) in March 2010, still tour constantly and remain the band with the heaviest touring schedule on their circuit.

Further reading

• Frank Allen: The Searchers and Me - A history of the Legendary Sixties Hitmakers^[3]
• Frank Allen: Travelling Man - On the Road with The Searchers^[4]
• The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock and Roll – 3rd Edition
• The 1000 UK Number One Hits

References

External links

• Searchers website
• The Searchers Records