Gwyn Jay Allen

Gwyn Jay Allen is a British jazz and World Music musician, actor and Interior Architect. He was born in Loughborough to Sierra Leone immigrants, and has lived 18 years in Freetown before moving back to England to study. Early in his career he played the guitar and sang at Tube stations. In 1992 he landed a job at the London Hilton on Park Lane, playing percussion and singing. In 1993 he had a residency at the prestigious Dorchester Hotel piano lounge. In 1997 he was one of the finalists on the ITV talent show Stars in Their Eyes, where he impersonated Louis Armstrong singing We Have All the Time in the World. Allen has toured with the groups The Sound of the Platters and The Jazz Quarterbacks. He has also played the part of Cab Calloway in a 1996/1997 West End production of the musical The Blues Brothers which also toured the UK. In 1999, during a visit to Sierra Leone, he was held hostage for one day by one of the warring parts in a Sierra Leone civil war. Allen was recommended to Brit Award Winners Britons Basement Jaxx which led to him recording several songs with them, live performances and eventually a solo single released in 2000 through Basement Jaxx's label, Atlantic Jaxx. In 2002 he was the opening act for American gospel singer Kirk Franklin at a concert Franklin held at Royal Albert Hall where he released his debut album “Land of Milk and Money”. Gwyn’s second album I Love Louis – A Creole Tribute to Louis Armstrong was released in 2006 and features Grammy Award Winner Trumpeter Roy Hargrove. This is the first vocal tribute of its kind to the great Jazz giant. Allen has also written the musical “Satchmo” together with the help of actor Clarke Peters with a debut show in Melbourne, Australia. Gwyn made his debut American performance at the Louis Armstrong Museum House on Louis’ birthday and Independence Day, 4 July 2010. As a result, the Album “I Love Louis” has now been made part of the Louis Armstrong achieves. He has worked as a session vocalist and percussionist for Sony Music, Virgin Records and Real World Music. As a television actor Gwyn has been on EastEnders, The Bill, Men Behaving Badly and Casualty. He enjoys combining his day-time job as an interior architect with writing and performing his music. Allen is married and has two sons.