There was a time in 1980 when Christie Allen couldn’t put a foot wrong. Her single, He’s My Number One, claimed a spot in the Australian Top 10 within five weeks of its release.
Her previous hit, Goose Bumps (1979), was the first single to achieve gold status in the history of the Australian Mushroom label.
Before that, she enjoyed national success with Falling In Love With Only You, and she made the Adelaide and Melbourne charts with You Know That I Love You.
All four songs were from her Magic Rhythm album and her rise was meteoric.
Christie Allen moved with her family from Essex, England, to Perth, Australia, in 1966.
In 1971 she won a local ‘Search For A Star’ talent contest but was disqualified because she was underage.
In 1973 she became the lead singer with a Perth band called Pendulum and two years later formed a group with her brothers Keith and Steve.
In 1978 she moved to Adelaide to try her luck as a solo artist, met producer Terry Britten (he made his name with The Twilights, wrote Devil Woman for Cliff Richard, and played on Olivia Newton-John albums), recorded her first album and signed with Mushroom.
In 1980, at the height of her success, she went to England to record her second album, Detour. With the LP complete and live dates booked in the UK and US, Allen returned home to sort out some personal issues and effectively withdrew from public life.
It would be ten years until she performed professionally again.
She moved to Western Australia and played in duos and trios, predominantly as a cabaret act (though she was named best country female artist at the Western Australia Music Awards in 1992).
