The story of Foster & Allen began back in the seventies when MICK & TONY were playing in Country Music bands around Ireland.  In 1975 they got together a small group and went over to the U.K. to work the Irish music venues on a short tour.

Mick & Tony had at this stage the idea of working together as a duo, playing ‘easy listening’ music with a touch of traditional Irish instrumentals.  When their U.K. tour finished they decided to let the band return to Ireland whilst they stayed behind to try out the ‘DUO’ on the public.  They played several venues in the London area and the reaction was very favourable; so much so, they decided to remain as a duo and ‘FOSTER & ALLEN’ was formed.

It was difficult at the beginning and after a time working around the circuit in the U.K. and Ireland, they released their first single record “The Rambles of Spring”.  This made a good impact on the Irish market and FOSTER & ALLEN were soon in demand for cabaret venues all over Ireland and to a lessor extent the U.K.  At the end of 1978 FOSTER & ALLEN released the single “A BUNCH OF THYME” in Ireland, which entered the Irish charts and became their first top- selling No. 1 single. IT stayed in the Irish Charts for 40 consecutive weeks, re-entering for a further 13 weeks.

However, at this stage, this was only in Ireland!  It was not until 1982 that this single was released in the U.K.  It was played by all the radio stations in Britain and was soon in the ‘pop’ charts.  It climbed rapidly to the top half of the British Top 20.  At the time, Mick & Tony were in the U.S.A. on a tour and it came as a great shock to them both when they were contacted and told to fly back to Britain immediately as they were required to appear on Television’s “TOP OF THE POPS”.

Things now started to happen very fast for the new Foster and Allen and the demand for their services at venues all over Ireland and the U.K. increased immensely.  They released another single “OLD FLAMES” which also made its way into the U.K. Charts and FOSTER & ALLEN were on their way to stardom!  They did their first concert tour of the U.K. in 1983 and this tour was boosted even more by the release of another mega hit single “MAGGIE”.  This proved to be a very popular song and, along with “A BUNCH OF THYME”, have become the signature tunes for FOSTER & ALLEN.  Since then Mick & Tony have toured the U.K. twice each year playing to sell-out concerts wherever they went.

In addition to the U.K. tours, FOSTER & ALLEN have toured the U.S.A, Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania. Their first tour of Australia took place in 1984 and in February of the same year, their single ‘Maggie’ went No. 1 in Australia and New Zealand Charts. They have subsequently toured Down Under 19 times and are heading off again on a tour of Australia in April/May 2019. On their last sell-out tour of New Zealand early 2018, their album ‘Timeless’ soar up the New Zealand Music Charts to No. 5.

They have appeared on numerous T.V. shows in Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales as well as Australia, USA and Canada and they have had their own T.V. series on RTE Television in Ireland.

In the early days Mick & Tony performed on stage as a duo, but in 1982 (when the concert tours started) they added a band to their show thus giving a much fuller sound to their program.

On the recording front, FOSTER & ALLEN have to date released over Thirty albums, all of which have gone into the British charts.  This is a great achievement for a middle-of-the-road ‘easy listening’ act, album sales being a very accurate reflection of the true popularity of any stage performance. http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/29974/foster-and-allen/

As well as the albums, they have released Fourteen videos/DVDs, again all of which have entered the British charts.  The video ‘SOUVENIRS AND MEMORIES’ reached No. 3 in the charts around Christmas 1991, the “BY REQUEST” video went straight into the No. 1 spot in 1993 and their latest DVD/Video release is “We Owe It All To You – 40 Years On”.

In 2020 they will celebrate 45 years together in the music business and to coincide with this they released  ‘Timeless Memories’ which features 182 tracks from 10 of their most popular and favourite albums, many of which have not been reissued in Ireland & UK for a number of years; Maggie, After All These Years, Reminiscing, Reflections, Remember You're Mine, Souvenirs, Memories, Heart Strings, By Request, Songs We Love To Sing.

To date Foster and Allen have achieved album and video sales in excess of 20 million worldwide.

Foster & Allen’s style and easy listening sound remains as fresh and exciting as ever.  They really enjoy the business they are in, especially the live concerts.

THE UNIQUE ‘FOSTER & ALLEN’ SOUND WILL BE WITH US FOR MANY YEARS TO COME!