About Lee Allen (musician)
Lee Francis Allen (July 2, 1927 – October 18, 1994) was an American tenor saxophone player. Phil Alvin, Allen's bandmate in The Blasters, called him one of the most important instrumentalists in rock'n'roll. Allen's distinctive tone has been hailed as "one of the defining sounds of rock'n'roll" and "one of the DNA strands of rock." Allen was a key figure in New Orleans rock and roll of the 1950s and recorded with many leading performers of the early rock and roll era. He was semiretired from music by the late 1960s, but in the late 1970s returned to performing intermittently until the end of his life. == Biography == Allen was born on July 2, 1927 in Pittsburg, Kansas, and raised largely in Denver, Colorado. He played saxophone from his childhood. A combined athletics and music scholarship from Xavier University led him to relocate to New Orleans in 1943. He fell into the city's thriving music scene, performing or recording with dozens of musicians in the early days of rock and roll and rhythm and blues. In 1947, he joined the Paul Gayten Band and later, the Dave Bartholomew Band. Notable are his recordings with the singers Fats Domino and Lloyd Price.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.