Tierney Allen’s favorite case of mistaken identity happened early in her career, at MGM Grand during the iHeartRadio Music Festival weekend.
“I stepped out of the bar, and all of a sudden somebody asked for a picture,” she remembers. “Then one person turns into five, turns into 20, turns into literally hundreds of people in the casino. People standing on top of slot machines. People on each other’s shoulders. It was absolute pandemonium.”
Security swooped in. “They took me and my husband … to the back of the house and said, ‘Which suite are you in, Miss Gaga?’ And I’m like, ‘I’m not Lady Gaga.’”
That was when Allen, early in her role as a Lady Gaga tribute artist, knew her likeness was enough. For the past seven years, the San Jose native has faithfully portrayed the award-winning artist through each iconic era in Legends in Concert.
“I’m really interested in her jazz era,” says Allen, a trained singer, pianist and violinist. “We know how talented she is from her pop stuff, but when she does her jazz shows in Vegas, man, she wails and she’s like Elvis and Liberace in one.”
Allen hadn’t given much thought to tribute performance until actress Kate Beckinsale walked into the Fred Segal’s where she previously worked. Beckinsale, floored by Allen’s resemblance to Gaga, encouraged Allen to turn the similarity into a career.
Onstage, Allen’s a vocal powerhouse; offstage, she’s a diligent student incessantly studying Gaga’s mannerisms, “how she holds her hands, or how she forms her mouth,” she explains. And Allen makes 99% of her Gaga replica outfits herself, with the exception of the diva’s Versace Super Bowl beaded bodysuit, which required a collaboration with a seamstress.
Allen says she’s developed a new appreciation for her work since the pandemic. Alongside dealing with the entertainment shutdown, she was battling Stage 3 breast cancer. While undergoing chemotherapy and waiting to get back to work, Allen and her husband—an acclaimed Elvis impersonator—invited other tribute artists to perform for Stars in Quarantine, a Facebook Live show they produced and streamed.
“I would get up every now and then and perform as Lady Gaga,” Allen says. “I was bald, but I put a wig on and made it work. Her music helped me get through it.”
Today, Allen is two years in remission and ready to take on another legend. Lady Winehouse, her new tribute show at the Space on January 6, will honor both Lady Gaga and Amy Winehouse, two musicians she believes are strikingly similar.
“I want it to be an experience,” she says. “I want people to feel like, what if Amy lived and she got to be here for Gaga’s jazz era, and they shared the same stage?”
The tribute marks a turning point for Allen, who up until this point had always relied on joining others’ productions. Lady Winehouse is “something of mine,” she says, “something I could create and take on the road when I want to go to different casinos or venues around the world.”
While Allen has everything it takes to carve her own path as an artist, her role as Gaga remains a priority and a passion. “It’s Halloween every day,” she says. “I get to sing these incredible pop songs and jazz songs, and she’s still going. Why would I ever quit this?”
Tierney Allen: Lady Winehouse January 6, 7 p.m., $30-$40. The Space, thespacelv.com.
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