Only a few months later, in June 2011, Allo joined Prince on stage for the first time at the Montreal International Jazz Festival. “He said I had to learn decades of songs-and he has tons and tons of music,” she says. He also brought her up to speed on his own storied musical history (Purple Rain came out five years before Allo was born). But first, he put her through “music boot camp,” educating her on artists like Joni Mitchell, Sly and the Family Stone, James Brown, Jimi Hendrix and James Taylor. “I was thrilled to get that opportunity,” she says.
The two clicked instantly, she says, and Prince invited Allo to join him on his upcoming summer tour, sometimes opening for him but mostly playing guitar and singing alongside him and his band NPG (New Power Generation).
He’s like a superhero, but doesn’t put on any airs, and is just a really smart, down-to-earth person,” she recalls of the meeting, during which Prince invited her to hang out and play with his band after the show that night. when a friend from The Africa Channel (who had first aired an in-studio performance by Allo the year before) introduced her to the iconic musician. “It funded my music.” She also held other decidedly less glamorous jobs around town, including ones at an insurance agency and a bowling alley.īut the trajectory of her music career shifted dramatically in April 2011 while attending a Prince concert in L.A. She joined the local agency Cast Images, and modeled for brands and products such as Sprint, AT&T and Sony PlayStation 3. But it was around that time that her other career-modeling-began taking off. That challenge intensified when, halfway through recording, she nearly ran out of money. “I didn’t want to rely on anyone else to do it for me,” she says. It was here, over dozens of performances, that Allo refined her sound (reminiscent of Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill that she calls “alter-hip-soul”) and amassed enough material for her first album UnFresh, which was self-financed. But, she says, standing in the high-ceilinged, ephemera-packed British pub, “This is where it started.” Today, Allo finds herself once again at Fox & Goose, this time reflecting on the unexpected journey that has taken her from Second Saturday to the pages of Vogue and an international tour alongside Prince. (Allo’s father Andrew, an African ecologist after whom she was named, stayed behind In 2000, she and her sister Suzanne moved to the United States to join her Caucasian mother Sue-a teacher from Lodi who had relocated to California earlier because she was battling chronic fatigue syndrome-and their three older siblings here.
In fact, Allo herself is something of an African cultural export, moving to Sacramento 12 years ago from her native country of Cameroon. And yes, it was Allo who took the Minnesota musician to Tower Café for a plate of its signature custard-soaked French toast, surrounded by the restaurant’s eclectic collection of Asian and African art and artifacts. Her new album Superconductor, scheduled for release in late September, was executive produced by Prince and also features several songs that he co-wrote with Allo. So what brought the Purple One to town? It was his new protégé, Andy Allo, a 23-year-old Sacramento singer with large eyes, a slight frame and a striking, tightly curled afro.
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Over the course of that week (during which he celebrated his 54th birthday), the artist formerly-and now again-known as Prince, was also spotted at Cafeteria 15L, Corti Brothers (where store director Rick Mindermann confirms that someone ordered a veggie sandwich at the deli counter and wrote “Prince” on the order ticket), hung out at Mix Downtown, saw the movie Prometheus at the Esquire IMAX Theatre and shopped for some music at Records on Broadway. It was music icon Prince on a whirlwind tour of Sacramento. No, it wasn’t Jimmer Fredette or Tyreke Evans.
The buzz began with a Facebook post from Tower Café on June 5 announcing that purple
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