September 11, 2008 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

Velvet voice of Dondi Allen of G’tn heard at White House
by CONSTANCE GARCIA-BARRIO

Dondi Allen’s voice has taken him to the rarefied realms where heads of state meet. Allen, 46, joined fellow members of the Philadelphia dance band Jellyroll in a command performance at the White House this past December.

“We felt deeply honored to perform at the Congressional Ball,” Allen said.  Jellyroll’s 13-member crew regaled President Bush, senators, members of the House of Representatives and their guests with music that ranged from finger-popping hot to smoked-honey mellow. “What a great evening,” Allen said, “but yes, I felt nervous.”

Jellyroll received the highest possible praise for its performance: an invitation to return to the White House in March of 2008, when they performed again.

But Allen is no stranger to applause. Born and raised in Germantown, Allen went to Martin Luther King High School, and later attended the High School for Performing Arts.  He had stepped into the spotlight long before his teens. “I joined the Philadelphia Musical Academy Boys Choir when I was eight,” said Allen, who now lives in Wilmington. “I was granted solos as a soprano almost immediately.  It was unusual to solo at such a young age.”

Allen was 10 when a misstep during a performance of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Trial by Jury brought the house down. The choir had chosen the short opera for its Christmas show. Trial by Jury involves a bride who sues her rascally fiancé for breach of promise.  “I played Angelina, the bride,” Allen said. “I was done up in a white dress and veil and a blond wig. Near the end of the opera, I was supposed to toss my bouquet into the audience. When I did, somehow I knocked my wig off. People roared. They thought it was a riot. Afterward, the show’s director told me to knock the wig off every night.”

In the summer of 1975, Allen got a surprise of a different kind. “The choir was set to tour Europe,” he said. “I was going to do solos, but my voice started to change. I was 13, and my voice bounced back and forth from soprano to alto. I had no control over it. I didn’t sing those solos, but I learned the alto parts. We sang in French, Italian and German. We didn’t speak those languages, but we were taught the proper diction.”

That training may have seemed like icing on the cake. Allen’s grounding in music stretches back to his infancy. “My mother, Shirley Johnson, sang with the Tymes, the group that had the ‘60s’ hit, ‘So in love.’ My mother left the Tymes to raise a family, but she would sing around the house. She taught me to harmonize,” said Allen, who has an older brother and a younger sister.

Allen credits Dr. Carleton Lake, director of the boys’ choir, for giving him solid classical training. “He taught me to sing from the diaphragm,” Allen said. “Talk about a stickler.  He demanded perfection. I also studied with Dan Rothernel, the assistant director. He was more laid back. He had high standards, but he taught me to relax and have fun. I follow that philosophy to this day.”

After four years in one of the Army’s field artillery units in the ‘80s and as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division, Dondi attended the Philadelphia College of Performing Arts. In 1987, he earned an associate’s degree. Allen endured set-backs in his goal of full-time singing. “I wanted to do some off-Broadway stuff, but they didn’t accept me,” he said. “One time my step-brother talked me into going to an audition with him. They turned him down but offered me a job. I didn’t feel right taking it because it had been his idea, so I said no. That decision really upset my mother.” 

Allen held many jobs to support himself while his career developed. “I used to sell cars,” he said. “I also managed an I-HOP restaurant in Center City, and later one in Ardmore. I was a server at the Four Seasons Hotel. I met Denzel Washington, Earth Wind and Fire, Aretha Franklin and other celebrities when I worked there. Most were extremely cordial.  Aretha Franklin’s bill came to $30, but she left me a $100 tip.”

Allen made the leap to full-time singer in 1993. “Joey Hier, a band leader with the Philadelphia group Joy Ride, offered me a job. We had attended Performing Arts together. Later, I sang with Force of Nature Soul Devaliants, a band based in North Philly.” Allen’s big break came in 1995. “Kurt Titchenell, Jellyroll’s bandleader, asked me to audition. I did. An hour after I returned home, I got a call from Kurt. ‘Dude,’ he said, ‘you have a job.’”

“Dondi has a really rich baritone voice and at the same time an amazing range,” said Titchenell, founder of the Brandywine Valley Talent Agency. “He’s classically trained, simply a pro.”

In 1998, Allen’s life changed again when he married Dawn Guida. Now they have nine-year-old twins, Kayla and Karly Allen. “Alex Guida, 14, Dawn’s son from a previous marriage, lives with us,” said Allen, who has a son from an earlier marriage, Anthony Allen, 21.

“Jellyroll is like a second family to me,” said Allen. “In Jellyroll we make decisions together, and everyone receives the same pay. In some bands the singers get a little more. We’re not like that … As far as our repertoire goes, we do a lot of big band music, Earth, Wind and Fire, and rhythm and blues. I’ve been blessed to perform at the Academy of Music, the Shubert Theatre and the Union League, some of Philadelphia’s loveliest historic buildings.”

Only once has Allen found himself unable to sing. “I was performing in a wedding reception at the Crystal Tea Room earlier this year when a call came that my mother had died,” he said. “I couldn’t sing another note.”

Allen, who loves tennis, basketball, the Philadelphia Eagles and composing for his own pleasure, is back in full voice. “The most important things are taking care of my family and singing. I hope to keep on enjoying myself singing.”