Today we’d like to introduce you to Lee Clark Allen.
Lee, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
The scariest thing about having gifts is knowing that you have them, which then can mislead people in believing that their entire identity is their gifts. As a kid, although I was always eye-balling the organist while I sang in the church choir, I turned down most chances I got to sing solo’s during Sunday and special church services. “Nope” or me deliberately hiding in the back were my tactics of escaping the attention. Having more than enough attention made me hypersensitive of myself and surroundings and overall just flat out uncomfortable. And besides, being the middle kid of the family, I got used to not being the beckon of everyone’s attention. The easiest way to diminish one’s musical gift is by choosing not to display it out of fear, out of compliance for someone’s else insecurity, or belief that the gift is not actual yours to self-care and serve others. In accepting that my gift is something that I was really supposed to be used full-time, the search for Lee Clark Allen began.
In deciding my stage name, I wanted my mother’s maiden name to be my legacy name. Let the person who raised you name guide you onto the battlefield of life was my philosophy. Yet, I am my mother’s child, and her big heart allows her to forgive well. And because my mother and father are so civil with each other after ending the chapter of life together and starting new chapters, their life signifies that their names can work together as well. To constantly pay tribute to a strong black single-parent mother, whether I blow up as an artist or not, my mother’s heart guides me in a lot of ways. My stage name became a thing, when young and older audience members were like, “Lee Clark Allen is classy and just rolls off the tongue right!” I paused and looked up to heaven and said, “Lord, you think you know what you be doing!” I serve a humorous, on-time, and loving God, who knows how to two-step with me too.
“Letting my Light Shine is Working???”
Do not pray, if you are not going to work. Do not work, if you are not going to pray. Those two words, “work” and “pray”, are special to me. We as people fall into two categories, which are “Haves” and “Have nots”; and in actuality, I believe that we all start as “Have nots” because we have a choice to accept everything that we are offered and work to keep everything that we acquire. Black city-country kids like myself may believe that they need more in order to take orbit towards their dreamland. Yet, while privilege kids [white, brown, other, or black] may announce that they have a spaceship to get them into orbit, Michael Jordan in Space Jam reminds me that black city-country kids’ sneakers can lift them into orbit just as much as a spaceship can. Basically, there is no magic formula to your success. Your success comes from “working” and “asking/praying”.
What we choose to do with the supplies that we have is up to us. As an independent R&B artist, I manage my artist business, teach middle and high schoolers, and teach college students simultaneously. I would not have become a community college professor at 23/24. if I was not working and praying for guidance, providence, and opportunities. I would not have become a founding member of a DSST school, that after its founding year ranked #1 in Denver and #2 in Colorado in English Language Arts, if I was not working and praying for guidance, providence, and opportunities to empower my students. I would not have received Top Album Honors from acclaimed major music magazines for my debut EP, Little Rock, if I was not working and praying for guidance, providence, and opportunities to be comfortable with what God has allowed me to do so I might as well do it to the fullest. I tell students all the time: in my classes, we work and work little more, and then we play and are appreciative when we are asked to work again.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I am gratefully that it has taken me and my stagename seven to eight years to rise from the clay and out of the ashes. If I would have emerged earlier, I would be more tarnished than I am currently. Overall, I think I would not be the nice, down to earth, and healthy person you are interesting with today. In the music world, it is necessary for artists to develop healthy skills of coping with the million rejection letters you receive or the isolation that comes from being the crab grabbing towards the top of the barrel while feeling other crabs intentionally not trying to lift you up or crabs intentionally trying to rip off your leg to hinder progress.
I love my little brother. There was a moment when someone was beefing with him during my formative years of unknowingly getting ready for Lee Clark Allen. Since the guy could not penetrate my little brother’s artistic armor, the gentleman began to attack those closest to my little brother, which was me. Note to artist, when you are in your formative years where you are at work in defining your sound and your voice to sound like you and no one else, please protect yourself and seek wise counsel or ask for an overload of discernment. Because it becomes paramount for you to mute sounds that are irrelevant and allow sounds to come through that would edify. When younger siblings step up to empower their older siblings, that’s payback for big brothering, lol.
Another obstacle worth noting is just getting out of your own way. My acclaimed debut EP surfaces, because I chose to love me now and become and demonstrate my best self now, rather than hoping that a lady would love and accept me first before revealing my true self. In those seven to eight formative years, I went back and forth with ” I do music for me” to “I will not do music because you are uncomfortable with the attention I am getting.” When I focused on me rather than relationships to fulfill me, my album emerged; and I am choosing my best self daily.
Can you give our readers some background on your music?
Lee Clark Allen is an American R&B/Soul singer-songwriter, based in Denver, CO. Originally from Little Rock, AR, he’s influenced by various musical styles, such as classic soul, contemporary R&B, neo-soul, blues, alternative rock, pop, and jazz artists. Lee draws inspiration from artists, such as Ray Charles and other artists who are known at playing piano and singing simultaneously. Lee pushes himself to be an impactful singer-songwriter and pianist. His passions for his gifts come through clearly through his acclaimed debut EP, Little Rock, released March 2019. It’s a hybrid of soul, R&B, blues, jazz, gospel, and hip hop. The first single from this album is “I Won’t Tell Myself A Lie, ” second single is “Religion (You Are My)” and the third single is “Mud (Rise)” that features Britney Jane.
Pricing:
- Little Rock album $10 physical copy
- Little Rock digital album available on online music platforms
Contact Info:
- Website: www.leeclarkallen.com
- Instagram: www.instragram.com/leeclarkallen
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/leeclarkallen
- Other: www.soundcloud.com/leeclarkallen
Image Credit:
Julianne DuMond
C.F. Bullwinkle
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