New CD from the Rance Allen Group In Stores May 22nd

Atlanta, GA – After more than 30 years of performing and recording, one of urban contemporary/gospel/r&b legends - THE RANCE ALLEN GROUP releases another album “Closest Friend” Tuesday, May 22, 2007.

The Tyscot Records CD comes on the heals of “The Live Experience” CD/DVD featuring the hit duet with Kirk Franklin - “Something About The Name Of Jesus” and garnering two Stellar Awards.

Rance Allen and his brothers, Thomas and Steve, are three of a dozen children from a church-active family that nearly filled the small Goodwill Church of God In Christ (COGIC) the family attended.

Fans will be hard-pressed to fit the lead single/title track “Closest Friend” into any particular category. It encompasses urban contemporary, quartet gospel, contemporary gospel and more. The entire album has already been defined as “classic heart & soul” that fills the heart and touches the soul; also strikes a chord among listeners of all ages. A special international TV special is in the works for them to star in a one-hour show on The Gospel Music Channel and a couple of performances on TBN this month.

Having performed on many national TV shows as “Bobby Jones Gospel”, “Arsenio Hall Show”, the classic movie “Wattstax” and on some of the biggest stages in the world, RAG (Rance Allen Group) has seen it all. Now as they gear up to let the world hear “Closest Friend”, they are embarking on a concert stint in Ireland and other countries in Europe and special performances in the United States including the upcoming “Bobby Jones Gospel”, “Gospel Superfest” and more. The single is steady climbing up the R&R (Records and Radio) charts and consistently gaining more radio airplay daily.

RAG can reach all the way back to the 1960s as their humble beginnings as young lads listening to Motown songs, Mahalia Jackson, the Mighty Clouds of Joy, James Cleveland, etc. They took the tunes of the Temptations, Aretha Franklin, James Brown and Dionne Warwick, rearranged the words and gave it back its roots. “It was a new Gospel style and the young people loved it,” says Rance.