Allen Stone

Biography

Allen Stone (born March 13, 1987) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician based in Seattle. His musical style spans genres including soul and R&B. Stone has released five studio albums and two extended plays, with his latest album Apart×APART12 November 2021 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Unaware4:362Give You Blue3:423Bed I Made3:014Brown Eyed Lover4:205Lay It Down3:426Consider Me3:567American Privilege3:228Circle3:179The Wire3:0610Where You’re At2:5011I Know That I Wasn’t Right5:2912Is This Love4:05 released in 2021.

Early life

Stone was born on March 13, 1987, in Chewelah, Washington, near Spokane. He began his career singing at his father's church. His father was a preacher and his mother was an OB/GYN nurse. He began singing in church at age 3.
By age 14, Stone was leading worship at his church and playing the guitar. The draw of music for Allen was mainly being able to express himself to a crowd of people.
Allen did not discover soul music until he was a teenager, and he started collecting classic albums from the 1960s and 1970s. He was 15 when he heard the Stevie Wonder album Innervisions (1973).

When Stacie Orrico, a close friend of Allen's as a teen, became successful in music, Stone decided to become serious about his musical career. Stone related how Orrico had released a record and become successful: "She was traveling, singing everywhere, and recording. She was just a year older than me and I was like, 'Man that would be so much fun to do, sing and actually have people listen.'"
When Stone was 18, he moved to Spokane, where he attended community college for a semester followed by a year at Moody Bible Institute in Spokane. After that year, Stone had an epiphany. He stated in an interview with SF Gate: "I learned the history of the church and the conception of the Bible and learned about the religion and really just, like, didn't believe it... I got to the point where it was like, 'I don't believe this is the truth.'"
Not long after, Stone moved to Seattle to pursue his musical career.

Influences

Stone has been influenced by Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, The Meters, Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, Jamie Lidell and James Morrison. The New York Times compared his socially conscious music to the likes of Donny Hathaway, Bill Withers and two of his musical influences Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye.

Career

Stone has released five albums, Last to Speak×Last to Speak29 September 2009 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Shelter3:132Quit Callin3:233Better Off This Way3:094Reality3:515Figure It Out4:066Poison3:347Running Game2:598False Alarms3:279Vibe With Ya3:2410Breathe Anymore3:4411Last to Speak3:57 (2010, self-released), the self-titled Allen Stone (2011, ATO Records), Radius (2015, Capitol Records), Building Balance (2019, ATO Records), and APART (2021, ATO Records). Radius was also re-released by ATO Records in 2016 as a deluxe edition with seven additional tracks.
Stone had been touring cross-country for a few years and sold a self-released album on the Internet. However, it was not until October 2011, when his second album was released, that his career began to truly kick off. On this album, he was backed by Raphael Saadiq's rhythm section and Miles Davis' keyboardist Deron Johnson. A few songs on Allen Stone were co-written with Andy Grammer. Allen Stone peaked at the number 2 spot on the R&B/Soul charts on iTunes and hit number 9 and number 35 on the Billboard Heatseekers and R&B/Hip Hop Album charts, respectively. USA Today called Allen Stone a "pitch-perfect powerhouse".
In October 2011, he performed his song "Unaware" on Conan and was featured again in June 2015.
In 2012, Stone was featured on the song "Neon Cathedral" by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis off their album The Heist.

Stone was voted one of mtvU's Freshman 5 in late 2012 and tapped as VH1's first "You Oughta Know" artist of 2013. In January 2013, Stone appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and performed the song "Sleep×Sleep13 January 2013 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Sleep2:28".
Radius, his first album for Capitol Records, was released on May 2015. It was recorded in collaboration with Magnus Tingsek, and features production from Malay and Benny Cassette. Allen Stone said of the album title, "The radius×Radius26 May 2015 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 14 tracks1Perfect World3:152Fake Future2:553American Privilege3:324Circle3:295Upside4:016Freezer Burn2:437Love2:568Where You're At2:399Symmetrical3:4810The Wire2:4711Guardian Angel4:4112Freedom3:5113Barbwire4:0314I Know That I Wasn't Right6:50 is that line extending from the center of the circle to its exterior, and in a lot of ways this album is about getting out things deep inside—whether it's love or insecurity or joy or frustration about things going on today." On March 2016, Radius was re-released as a deluxe edition by ATO Records with seven additional tracks.
On April 2017, Stone's song "Perfect World" was featured on the trailer for the upcoming Netflix series Dear White People.
In 2018, Stone released the single "Brown Eyed Lover" and appeared on American Idol in 2018, to sing duets with multiple contestants. His fourth full-length album, 2019's Building Balance×Building Balance8 November 2019 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 14 tracks1Brown Eyed Lover3:582Sunny Days3:113Consider Me3:054Hold It Down3:525Sweaters2:566Miscommunicate3:507Lay It Down2:578Back to the Swing3:389I'm Alright3:1110Taste of You3:3311Give You Blue3:4712Look Outside3:5113Chippin’ Away2:4714Warriors3:14, was co-produced with Jamie Lidell.

In 2022, Stone competed in the American Song Contest, representing his home state of Washington. He placed first out of eleven in the jury vote for his semi-final, and advanced to the competition final and finished in fifth place despite not performing live for personal reasons. On October 2022, Stone released a new single, "5 Minutes". He was then to go on tour in Australia, starting on November 11, 2022.
Stone co-wrote and performed on the track "Look At Me×Look at Me10 May 2023 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Look at Me3:53" in The Lucky One, an album by Cory Wong released in August 2023.
In 2026, Stone wrote and performed the song "Home, Where Your Heart Found Me" in the Apple TV special Snoopy Presents: There's No Place Like Home, Snoopy.

Social commentary in music

On Allen Stone's self-titled album, a few songs address social and political issues, including "Unaware", "Contact High", and "What I've Seen".
A live music video of "Unaware – Allen Stone – Live From His Mother's Living Room" on Stone's YouTube account has been viewed over 16,000,000 times. Stone wanted to have a different and weird setting for this video, so they recorded it on a set that looked like a living room.