Verden Allen
Verden Allen (born Terence Allen, 26 May 1944, Crynant, Neath, Wales) is an organ player and founding member of 1970s rock band Mott the Hoople. Before that band formed, he had in the mid-1960s been in a rhythm and blues cover band called The Inmates and recorded with Jimmy Cliff. He left Mott after their breakthrough 1972 album "All The Young Dudes" because Hunter was reluctant to record most of the songs he had written ("Second Love" on "Brain Capers" and "Soft Ground" on "Dudes" are the only songs in the Mott the Hoople canon written entirely by  Allen). He is featured singing on a few Mott songs, including the demo version of "Nightmare", released on the (reissue) of the album "Mott", as well as "Soft Ground" on the original release. Another song of his, "Son of the Wise Ones", was going to be recorded for "Mott", but when Allen left he refused to give the song to the remaining members. After he left Mott, he joined up with future Pretenders members James Honeyman-Scott and Martin Chambers in a band called The Cheeks. They disbanded in 1976 after failing to get a record deal, after which Allen  spent the late 1970s and early 1980s in a number of short-lived bands on his own record label, Spinit. From 1983 until 1994, Allen was entirely out of the music business, and then he made a low-key comeback with a new band named after one of Mott's earliest songs, Thunderbuck Ram. They released only one album, "Long Time No See", before disbanding. On his 1999 solo album, "For Each Other", Allen played all the instruments and the album was released by Angel Air Records, who reissued all the classic Mott the Hoople albums during the early 2000s . In January 2009 it was confirmed that Allen and the other original members of Mott the Hoople would reform for two 40th anniversary reunion concerts in October 2009. This was later expanded to cover five dates, all at the Hammersmith Apollo. A further five-date tour followed, in November 2013, covering dates across the UK.