John Andrew Allen - the Music

Although parents Jack and Sheila had no particular musical background, they were keen that their 4 children had a solid musical foundation, and all had piano lessons from an early age - in John's case from the age of 6. He attended piano lessons with a Mrs Wilson in Pudsey, and hated every moment, so much so that the enticement that he could give up Piano lessons if he passed his 11 plus exam, ensured that he went onto Grammar School!

Those early lessons however stood him in good stead, and he played the violin briefly in the St. Bede's Grammar School Orchestra in Bradford, followed by a brief interest in the Clarinet, but following a family house move, he moved schools to St. Michael's College in Leeds where he developed an interest in the Guitar.

St Michael's College, Leeds

Whilst at St Michael's, John teamed up with fellow pupils including Gregory Hehir, Pete Lister and Martin Brown and they would practise in various locxations in the school (including the confessional box) and eventually they formed a group which they called Wheatstone Bridge and played several gigs, mainly unpaid, at local Youth Clubs and Folk Clubs.

John Andrew - Guitar Vocalist

On leaving school John lost touch with Greg, but John and Pete played a few gigs, notably resident for a while at the weekly Folk Club at the Free Trades Hall in Leeds. John auditioned for Gordon Kellet Entertainments in Leeds and was given several gigs, the first of which was at the Carlton Working Men's Club near Rothwell in Leeds, but his gear played up, and he was unable to complete the gig!

Pipeline

John teamed up briefly with Martin in the John Martin Duo, who could justifiably claim to be an award winning duo, since on a vacation in Aberystwith in 1976 John and Martin won a talent contest and walked away with - a clothes brush (although to be fair it also doubled as a shoe horn!) This was in the days before backing tracks and the pair had to endure "live backing" in the form of Organ & Drums backing when they played live at Working Mens Clubs. Before long they encouraged the musical return of Pete Lister playing Bass Guitar, and John's brother Michael Allen on Keyboard and formed the group Pipeline with occasional accompaniment from one of the area's first female drummers in the form of Tina. They played the music of the day including The Eagles, Supertramp, although they were continually frustrated by audiences asking for Beautiful Sunday and Penny Arcade and other cheesey songs played by every club act of the time (Nothing changes)

Mark Uttley

One of the musical stars of St Mick's had been Mark Uttley, who like Martin and Pete travelled to school in Leeds each day from York. Mark was somewhat of a child prodigy, as he was in the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain at an early age, and Mark had gone on from St Michaels to get a music degree and was playing bass in a college band called "Wally" who were managed by "Whispering" Bob Harris (presenter of the Old Grey Whistle Test) and super Musician Rick Wakeman. Although they were playing the University circuit, Mark was earning very little, and he and John got together, and soon Mark had joined Pipeline, bringing to it a wider musical dimension, playing lead guitar and occasional fiddle.

Duplex

Martin left Pipeline to join a trio called Kylie Brown, but even so a 5 piece band could not command much money playing the Pubs and Clubs in the late 70's, and since Pete lived in York, Michael was by now working for Rowntree's in York and commuting from Horsforth to York every day, and Tina had now departed, and it was time for a re-think and the group split - with John and Mark forming a more manageable (and profitable) duo called Duplex. Mark's musical skill and John's vocals worked well, and they were signed up by ATS Variety Agency in Leeds, under the Management of Stanley Joseph, who besides running the City Varieties Theatre in Leeds (home to The Good Old Days with Barney Colehan), also managed such nationally known variety artistes such as Charlie Williams, Duggie Brown, Lynn Perry (Ivy from Coronation Street) Stan Richards (Seth from Emmerdale Farm) and Liz Dawn (Vera Duckworth in Coronation Street).

With such high profile artistes, Stanley was able to provide better paid work, and John and Mark were despatched to all points of the compass to much more prestigious venues which included Wakefield Theatre Club, Batley Variety Club and many other similar prestigious establishments. They were also regular guest artistes on the local YTV evening news programme, Calendar hosted by Richard Whiteley. Also as full card holding Equity members, both Mark and John featured individually in a whole host of TV programmes, films and adverts, including Emmerdale, Coronation Street, All Creatures and literally dozens and dozens more. Sadly Mark suffered a bad broken leg following a Motor Cycle accident, and whilst brother Michael stepped into fulfil bookings, it did signal then end of the duo as John concentrated on building his own Insurance Broking business, and Mark (following a 6 month lay-off) landed the lead part in a school docu-drama, How we used to live.