Allen Stone Named 2023 Herb Alpert Visiting Artist for Berklee’s Professional Education Division

Allen Stone has been named the 2023 Herb Alpert Visiting Artist for Berklee’s Professional Education Division. Stone’s residency will take place the week of March 27–31.

During the week, students will have the opportunity to fully engage with Stone in a classroom setting where he’ll discuss how he navigated his career from being an independent artist to organically building a management team and a fan base through digital and social media. While on campus, Stone will participate in a songwriting listening session, a student-led interview, and will lead a performance accompanied by a 13-piece student band. 

“While still early in his career, Allen Stone’s remarkable success is powered by his soulful, authentic sound, high-energy shows, and exceptional ability to connect with fans, both in person and online,” says Stephanie Kellar, associate professor in the Music Business/Management Department. “His story is a blueprint for Berklee’s emerging artists and managers seeking a career in the ever-evolving music industry. We’re elated he’s joining us for this prestigious residency.”

"I'm thrilled to be Berklee's 2023 Herb Alpert artist in residence,” says Stone. “It’s an honor to meet and perform with this new generation of musicians and share my experience at an institution with such an esteemed reputation.”

About Allen Stone 

Allen Stone, who was raised in the small city of Chewelah, Washington, grew up on gospel music, spending much of his childhood as a pastor’s son watching his parents lead their congregation in song. By the time he was 11, he’d picked up a guitar, wrote his first song and soon began self-recording demo tapes to pass along to classmates. In 2011, he independently produced his debut album, Allen Stone, and released the first single, “Unaware,” in a live performance in his mother’s living room. The performance was seen globally, and it altered the trajectory of his life and career.

Known for his blend of classic soul and R&B of the ’60s and ’70s, the soulful singer’s music continues to evolve with the addition of contemporary and ’90s R&B. He has released five full-length albums, including an acoustic record, APART, in 2021. Recorded in a converted cabin during the pandemic, APART is a reimagined collection of some of his most beloved songs and includes a duet with Alessia Cara on “Bed I Made.” 

Last year, Stone represented Washington state on NBC’s American Song Contest, singing his song “A Bit of Both.” Recently, he was tapped to be a mentor on season 21 of American Idol along with Noah Cyrus. This isn’t his first time on the series, having previously mentored several aspiring contestants in 2018. In 2020, Stone performed on NPR's Tiny Desk Concert series and said at the time that being invited was not only “such a thrill and honor to get to play Tiny Desk but it’s also really a breath of fresh air for me that this is the way people wanna hear music; this is the channel that folks wanna tune into to hear the songs broken down and to hear the music really played.”

Stone performs more than 200 live shows a year and will be one of several acts this summer opening for Chris Stapleton across the country in his All-American Road Show Tour.