About me
Allen Branton is a 49-year veteran of the entertainment lighting business. He has acted as primary LD on over 500 projects, on every continent save Antarctica. Branton began a free-lance design career in the mid-70’s, designing for Alice Cooper, Burton Cummings, Bread, Ben Vereen, and finally Diana Ross. Allen was nominated by Performance Magazine readers as Lighting Designer of the Year eight times, winning in 1981, ’82, ’87, and ’91. His touring clients since 1980 include Diana Ross, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Ozzy Osbourne, the Oak Ridge Boys, The Bee Gees, Judas Priest, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, The Who, Fleetwood Mac, Paul Simon, Vince Gill, Marc Anthony, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and Bette Midler.
A Diana Ross HBO special in 1979, was Branton’s first foray into television. This was followed up with Diana in 1981, a CBS special, for which he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy. His six CableACE nominations for lighting design include HBO productions of Sting in Tokyo (1989) and Madonna Live! for which he won the 1990 award; then two more nominations in 1992 for The MTV Movie Awards and Disney’s Gloria Estefan – Going Home. Allen went on to win an Emmy for his work on Bette Midler’s Diva Las Vegas in 1997 and received his third Emmy nomination for Cher-Live from the MGM Grand. Recent Primetime Emmy nominations came for the 2013 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on HBO, The WIZ-Live on NBC in 2015, and HAIRSPRAY-Live and Adele Live at Radio City Music Hall, both on NBC in 2016. His work on the PBS series Bluegrass Underground, won regional Emmys in 2012, 2013 and 2014.
Touring artists for whom he has consulted on video adaptations of existing concert designs include U2, Robbie Williams, Madonna, Christina Aguilera, Usher, Britney Spears, N’ Sync, David Bowie, Diana Ross, and Sting, among many others.
Branton designed dozens of episodes of MTV’s UNplugged music series, and MTV’s Video Music Awards. He designed MTV Movie Awards from their inception and for the following 20 years. Other notable television productions include the Halftime celebrations for the 2003 and 2004 Super Bowls, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony (2002- Present), the Miss America Pageant (2008-2019), U2 at the Rose Bowl, 2011 Primetime Emmy Awards, The Concert for Valor, and Whitney Houston’s Concert for a New South Africa.
As a pioneer in the presentation of long form stand-up comedy on television, Allen designed lighting for specials featuring George Carlin, Robin Williams, Ray Romano, Bill Maher, Chris Rock, Whoopie Goldberg, Eddie Murphy, Jerry Seinfeld, Ellen Degeneres, and many more.
Allen has designed lighting for special events in iconic venues including Carnegie Hall, Madison Square Garden, The Rose Bowl, DAR Constitution Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Wembley Stadium, Brandenburg Gate-Berlin, Sydney Opera House, Radio City Music Hall, The Metropolitan Opera House, The Great Lawn-Central Park, The Colosseum in Rome, Nippon Budokan, The Kennedy Center, The White House, and scores of others.
His work has been featured in Performance, Theater Crafts, Lighting Dimensions, Lighting & Sound America, Production Lighting & Staging News, Live Design, and more.
Allen is pleased to count among his credits charitable projects including Live-Aid,Tsunami Relief, Hope For Haiti Now, Sandy Relief, Stand Up 2 Cancer, The LA Music Center Spotlight Awards, and Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth.”
Allen has designed hundreds of other concerts, award shows, special/corporate events, talk shows, game shows, and reality competitions. Allen’s work has appeared on stages worldwide and on every major television network.
