Biography
Before working with a rock band, he was a jouster at a Medieval Times Dinner Theater. He was introduced to the band Symphony X by former singer Rod Tyler. Allen has been the lead singer of Symphony X since 1995, releasing seven studio albums and one live album with the band. His first solo album, Atomic Soul, was released April 25, 2005. As well as singing he also plays the bass when performing songs from Atomic Soul live. He is referred to in various circles as "Sir Russell Allen", and he is credited as such on Arjen Lucassen's Star One albums, because of a joke that Arjen made knowing Allen's former "job" as a jouster.
In the summer of 2005 he went on tour with Symphony X on Dave Mustaine's Gigantour alongside such bands as Dream Theater, Megadeth, and Nevermore. In the same year, he also made part of a duo melodic rock project with singer Jørn Lande (Masterplan) called Allen/Lande, which already has three albums, all released by Frontiers Records and performed & composed by Swedish guitarist Magnus Karlsson (Primal Fear, Starbreaker).
In addition to being on tour with Symphony X, he is also currently working on another project with guitarist Mike Orlando and former Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy called Adrenaline Mob. The EP, Adrenaline Mob, was released in August 2011. The full length album Omertà was released in March 2012.
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