Foster & Allen's Story

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. By now Foster & Allen were under the Management of well known music Impresario Donie Cassidy and they were recording on his record label CMR Records. 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 Donie got the single released in the U.K. in partnership with Mick Clerkin of Ritz Records. 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 20 times. 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 TG4 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 Forty 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. 

As well as the albums, they have released over twenty 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”.

International Recording and Touring artists Foster & Allen celebrate an Amazing Milestone of 50 years in the Music Business in 2025 with their tour and new album ’50 At 50’.

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!

Mick was born in 1947 in County Kildare, in sight of the Curragh, which is probably the reason why he has a great love for horses and the open air. He now lives in Mullingar and has a small farm where he spends all his time, when not touring, looking after his horses and some cattle.

Mick is very keen on his music, and states that his accordion would probably be the last thing he would be prepared to give up. He states that from an early age he was influenced in his music by the famous Jimmy Shand and another all time great accordion player Will Starr.

Mick was taught to play the accordion by a Westmeath nun and a local hero Frankie Gavigan who had won the All Ireland Button Accordion Championship in Monaghan in 1952. Even though he was playing a piano accordion, Frank took him under his wing and taught him the traditional style of playing. Mick started going to Fleadh Ceoils in 1962 and in 1963 won his first Leinster Junior (under 18) in Portarlington, County Laois.

The following year in 1964 Mick won the Junior All Ireland in Clones, County Monaghan.
Again in Clones in 1968 he won the Senior All Ireland and repeated the performance in Listowel, County Kerry in 1970.

Mick also won a few Leinster Trio competitions with Denis and Cecilia Ryan from Edenderry and was a member of the Glan Ceili Band which won a few Junior Ceili Band competitions.
From 1963 he was broadcasting on RTE Radio and Television radio programmes such as “Children at the Microphone” and TV programmes such as “Seamus Ennis Sa Chathaoir”.
In 1965 the Rathconrath Branch of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann Won the All Ireland Scoraiocht competition and the Ceili Band, of which he was a member.

Even with his busy schedule touring as Foster & Allen, Mick still goes to as many Fleadh Cheoil as he can and enjoys a few tunes on the street with musicians that he played with in the 1960’s. When time permits, he tries to go to a traditional session at least once a month.
Mick Foster has a unique style of playing his accordion and a singing voice which suits the type of songs he picks. With his “Foster Special” accordion he will have us all tapping our feet and clapping along for years to come.

Tony was born on 24th February 1952, the youngest of a family of nine children. He was very keen on music from an early age and was very much encouraged by his parents and teachers. His father Patrick was a fiddle player while his mother was a fine singer. Tony started playing the accordion after one of his brothers brought him an accordion home from England. It wasn’t too long before he joined the Mary Landers (a local band) and in turn joined the Kieran Kelly Band replacing Brendan Shine. It was another Moate man, Kevin Sheeran, an accomplished musician and songwriter in his own regard who recommended Tony for the job in this band. They used to play mostly around the Midlands and a residency in the Irish Club, Parnell Square, Dublin every Tuesday night.

Tony’s whole life revolves around music, and he enjoys every minute he is entertaining people all over the world. He opened a recording studio in Moate, named “Roseland Studios” and all the major acts in Ireland record their albums there. Tony is totally motivated by music and with having the studio he is now directing his interests into the technical side of the business. However we all know Tony as an entertainer, and there is no chance that he would ever give that up. He has a tremendous singing voice, with the ability to make any song his own. I am sure you will enjoy Tony singing his new songs as only he can, for many years to come.