Eric Allendale - Later Years

Later Years

Some time after The Foundations broke up he went to Zambia with a soul band to play for its independence celebrations. He also joined other musicians in a band that played African Jazz and the band became popular there locally. He also taught music to students in Zambia and learnt some carving crafts and later moved to Kenya.

After spending four years in Africa he returned to England. In 1977 he and a former band mate from his early jazz years, Laurie Chescoe played traditional jazz. He also attempted to reunite with Tim Harris the former drummer for The Foundations and a gospel choir. Both were fruitless. With his partner Olive, in Peckham, South London he opened a junk shop.

In 1981 Allendale went to Paris and worked with Sam Woodyard, former drummer with The Duke Ellington band. He later moved to a commune near the Pyrenees and was a founding member of The St Andre Blues Band. In 1983 he returned to England and started a relationship with an artist called Simone and took up painting. He took music to schools with and an Afro-Caribbean group and later moved back to Paris. He had a brain haemorrhage in 1989 but recovered enough to play the keyboard. He suffered a stroke in 1999. Allendale died on 23 August 2001, at the age of 65.