Performance · Other credits

Tony Allen

real name Tony Oladipo Allen

Nigeria · 1940-08-12 – 2020-04-30

Tony Allen is credited on 576 releases across 247 albums tracked on Gatefold, active 1971–2026 — the collector-built map of who actually made the music.

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Photo of Tony Allen

576

Credits

247

Albums

6

Decades active

356

In collections

Biography

source

Showing the Discogs bio

Nigerian drummer, composer, and songwriter who lived and worked in Courbevoie, France.
Born: 20 July 1940 in Lagos, Nigeria.
Died: 30 April 2020 in Paris, France (aged 79).
Allen began working as a studio engineer. He played drums for Fela Kuti's Africa 70 and Egypt 80 organisations, pioneering the unique beat and vibe of Afrobeat music which combines polyrhythmic influences of Africa with the breakbeats and extended jams of the American funk and R&B, which reached Nigeria in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Allen released solo afrobeat and psychedelic funk albums on his own, and is notable for his contributions to the supergroup Psyco On Da Bus, amongst others.

Bio from Discogs

Credited work

576 releases · 247 albums · active 1971–2026

  • Performance · 894
  • Other credits · 51
  • Production · 36
  • Engineering · 11

Studios: Arc Studio, Lagos · EMI Studios · Fallout Shelter · Addis Ababa Studios

Discography

Records they worked on — most-collected first.

Frequent collaborators

  • Various
  • Fela
  • Fela Ransome-Kuti
  • Fela Anikulapo Kuti
  • Fela Ransome Kuti
  • Fẹla
  • Frederic Galliano
  • Allenko Brotherhood Ensemble

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