Allen Stone

Allen Stone is a soul musician from Chewelah, Washington. Although people describe him to be a soul and R&B singer, he sees himself as a hippie with soul.
Stone was born on March 13, 1987 in Chewelah, Washington, a small town about 45 minutes north of Spokane with a population of approximately 2,600 people.
Allen Stone began his career singing at his father's church. His father was a preacher growing up and his mother was an OB/GYN nurse. He sang in the church since he was 3 years old. By 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. Once he discovered the music, he started collecting classic albums from the 1960s and 1970s. He was 15 when he heard Stevie Wonder's album Innervisions.
It was not until one of his friends became successful that Stone decided to become serious about his musical career. Stacie Orrico, a close friend of his when he was a teen, had come out with a record and had become successful. "She was traveling, singing everywhere, and recording," Stone says, "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 Allen was 18, he moved from his hometown to Spokane, Washington, where he attended community college for a semester followed by a year at Moody Bible Institute in Spokane. After a year here, Stone had a realization. Stone states 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, he moved to Seattle, Washington to pursue his musical career.
He has self-released two records, "Last To Speak" (2010) and the self-titled sophomore release "Allen Stone" (2011).
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, "Allen Stone," was released that his career began to truly kick off. In this album, he was backed by Raphael Saadiq's rhythm section and Miles Davis' keyboardist Deron Johnson. Stone also received help in co-writing a few songs on "Allen Stone" with Andy Grammer.
"Allen Stone" peaked at the number 2 spot on the R&B/Soul charts on iTunes and hit #9 and #35 on the Billboard Heatseekers and R&B/Hip Hop Album charts, respectively. USA Today called Allen Stone a "pitch-perfect powerhouse".
On October 26, 2011, he performed his song "Unaware" on Conan.
Then on January 3, 2013, he appeared on The Ellen Degeneres Show and sang "Sleep".
In Allen Stone's self-titled album, a few songs discuss about social and political issues, such as "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 2,000,000 times. Stone wanted to have a different and weird setting for this video, so they went to his mom's house and recorded it in the living room.
This song was not only recorded in a peculiar setting, but has socially conscious lyrics about the economic crisis: "Everyday, the deficit grows/You spend more than you own/Papa always said to me/'Keep a close eye on your authority'" and "Everyday, taxes increase/So is this our land or is this our lease?/Papa said, 'Son, it's the land of the free,'/As he broke his back trying to make ends meet."