Eric Troyer
Eric Lee Troyer is an American keyboardist, singer, songwriter, and occasional guitarist, best known as a member of ELO Part II and its successor, popular live band, The Orchestra. Troyer was a founding member of ELO Part II, having been recruited by band leader Bev Bevan in 1988. He wrote a substantial quantity of the material on ELO Part II's three albums: Electric Light Orchestra Part Two; Moment of Truth; and One Night, a live album recorded in Australia. He also wrote a large amount of The Orchestra's album No Rewind.
With over 100 album credits and many years of performing, writing, recording and touring the world as a member of the Electric Light Orchestra Part II, Troyer has enjoyed a rare level of creative achievement and success.
Life and career
Over the years, Troyer has been a part of pop music history playing and singing on some of the world's most famous albums as a session musician and backing vocalist. He sang with John Lennon on "Woman" from the last John Lennon album, Double Fantasy, and he created the massive vocal harmonies heard on the huge hits of Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and "Holding Out for a Hero" along with Rory Dodd. Troyer also sang on Billy Joel's smash hit album An Innocent Man, including, "Uptown Girl" and "Tell Her About It".Troyer contributed his vocals to three Celine Dion albums, including her Grammy winning album Falling into You, for which he received a Grammy citation, as well as Celine's "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" and "A New Day Has Come".
Troyer's credits are literally a who's who of the musical universe, having worked with Placido Domingo, Kiss, James Taylor, Aerosmith, Barbra Streisand, Carly Simon, Johnny Winter, Michael Bolton, Sheena Easton, Julian Lennon, Scritti Politti, Eddie Rabbit, Meat Loaf, Barry Manilow, Sisters of Mercy, and sang on the movie soundtracks for Footloose, Chicago, Flashdance, and Streets of Fire.
In 1988 Troyer co-founded the Electric Light Orchestra Part II with The Move/E.L.O. drummer Bev Bevan. Troyer contributed to all of ELO Part II's studio and live albums, writing and singing their best known material; "Honest Men", "Thousand Eyes", and "For the Love of a Woman". In 2000, ELO Part II became THE ORCHESTRA Starring ELO Former Members, and while touring with ELO Part II and THE ORCHESTRA, Troyer has had the privilege of performing at Carnegie Hall and The Royal Albert Hall with such orchestras as the Halle, The Royal Philharmonic, The Moscow Symphony, the Ukrainian National Symphony, Bulgarian National Symphony, Australian National Symphony, and many others. Beyond popular music, Troyer's singing talents have appeared on hundreds of commercials, from Kool-Aid to Coke. And as a jingle writer and ad agency producer, he wrote a legendary campaign tune for IBM among other outstanding jingles.
In 1980, Troyer scored a minor solo hit with "Mirage", peaking at No. 92 in the Hot 100 chart. However it fared better on the AC, peaking at No. 43. An accompanying album titled String of Pearls was recorded, but never officially released. Thirteen years later, he did release a solo CD, Model Citizen.
Currently, Troyer has branched out into film and TV production with his wife Kee Kee Buckley. Together they own the production company Ad Hoc Media Partners , and are currently in various stages of production on several documentaries, narrative films, and a TV series called Finding Real America.
Troyer is married to writer/filmmaker Kee Kee Buckley. He has three daughters from a previous marriage: Asia, Lindsay, and Lauren.
Discography
| NAME | ALBUM | LABEL | YEAR |
| Eric Troyer | String of Pearls | Chrysalis | 1980 |
| Mirage / Meet Me at Midnight | Chrysalis | 1980 | |
| Model Citizen | Fine Arts Media | 1993 | |
| Eric Troyer & Hagley R.C. High School – Perpetual | 1994 |
| NAME | YEAR |
| Dead Ringer | 1981 |
| The Charlie Horse Music Pizza – Episode 7: "A Pirates Life" | 1998 |
| Electric Light Orchestra Part II – Access All Areas | 2000 |
| Electric Light Orchestra Part 2 – Access All Areas Live in Australia | 2003 |
| Live in Reno | 2006 |
| Cry Over Me – Meatloaf | 2007 |
| No Rewind: History of the Band, Story of the Album | 2017 |
| Finding Real America | 2019– |