Darren Allison

The Firehouse Studio

At the age of 17, Allison moved to London, and began working at The Firehouse Studio in Kentish Town, which was managed by John Cale's guitarist, David Young. Under Young's guidance, he started to develop his craft, assisting on sessions with such artists as the Pogues, Happy Mondays, Ali Farka Touré, Slim Gaillard and Carmel.

The Church Studios

Following a series of sessions with Dave Stewart at Ezee studios, in 1990 Allison joined Eurythmics' The Church Studios as an in-house engineer. He remained there for five years, working on albums with indie bands such as My Bloody Valentine and Curve, and on Stewart's own sessions with such rock musicians as Mick Jagger, Lou Reed, Bootsy Collins, and occasional visitor Bob Dylan.

Freelance

In 1995, Allison teamed up with Paul McCartney's band members Wix Wickens and Robbie McIntosh, and producer Paco Trinidad, for the recording of the Spanish diva Luz Casal's most successful album, Como La Flor Prometida, which sold 800,000 copies. During the sessions at London's Battery Studios, Allison also recorded Luz Casal's biggest single, Entre Mis Recuerdos.

Following the Luz Casal project, Allison officially left The Church Studios to concentrate on the production of Neil Hannon's third album under the moniker of the Divine Comedy. The album, entitled Casanova, was released in 1996 and spawned three Top 20 hit singles. He was then invited to work with Spiritualized, on their album, Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space.

Allison produced new tracks for rock band Bôa, on their hugely successful Twilight album, including the album's title track.

The following year, he worked with Babybird, co-producing tracks with Stephen Jones, for the U.S. version of their album Ugly Beautiful.