Ian Lloyd is an American rocksinger and songwriter, best known as the lead singer of the bandStories, whose single "Brother Louie" was number one on the BillboardHot 100 chart in 1973. In 1971, Michael Brown and Ian Lloyd formed Stories. They released two albums with a handful of Billboard Top 100 charting singles. Brown left before the band recorded their third album, Traveling Underground, which was released under the name, Ian Lloyd and Stories, and included the Billboard #50 hit "Mammy Blue". After Stories, he pursued a solo career, with six albums to his credit. Lloyd has performed with numerous recording artists, assuming the role of a session musician. His long discography of work includes background vocal work with artists such as Foreigner, Billy Joel, Peter Frampton, and Yes. Lloyd continues to record, perform, and write, his most recent release being "Everybody's Happy 'Cause It's Christmas Time".
Stories
Although Lloyd was classically trained on both piano and violin, he first reached international acclaim as lead singer for the band Stories, formed with Michael Brown of the Left Banke in the early 1970s. Lloyd sang lead on Stories' songs like "I'm Coming Home", "Mammy Blue" and "Brother Louie". A re-recorded version of the latter with Lloyd on vocals is used as the theme song for the comedy series Louie starring Louis CK. Rolling Stone praised Lloyd's songwriting, saying he displayed "a lyricist's most essential gift — the ability to produce a verbal approximation of the music's ambiance.".
After a successful run, Stories disbanded and Lloyd pursued a solo career. His albums were well received, in particular his 1976 eponymous debut. 1979's Goose Bumps produced the hit "Slip Away", written by Ric Ocasek of The Cars. 1980's Third Wave Civilization included Lloyd's version of Bryan Adams' 1983 hit "Straight from the Heart".
As a backup singer, Lloyd worked with numerous major recording artists, most notably Foreigner, who used Lloyd's vocals on hits like "Feels Like the First Time", "Cold as Ice", "Waiting for a Girl Like You", "Juke Box Hero", and "Double Vision". Lloyd can also be heard on Billy Joel’s "I Go to Extremes", as well as tracks by Yes, Peter Frampton, Survivor, and Ian McDonald.
The Ian Lloyd Band and Social Hero
In addition to projects of his own, Ian Lloyd has been a member of New York rock act Social Hero since 1998, performing alongside his son, frontmanDavid Lloyd. He contributed vocals to Social Hero's first album, The Famous, released in 2009. Lloyd continues to reside in New York City. His group, the Ian Lloyd Band, is composed of Ian Lloyd, David Lloyd, Matt Grossman/Dan Natelli, Antti Janhunen, and Jon Ihle. In addition to their own material, their repertoire consists of Stories' music and songs from LLoyd's solo catalogue.
On March 18, 2015, it was announced that Ian Lloyd would be joining his Stories bandmate Michael Brown's former group, The Left Banke, which included George Cameron, on a 2015 co-headline tour in North America. The Left Banke's original lead singer Steve Martin Caro never rejoined the touring version of the band as was advertised. Lloyd performs a mixture of solo material and classic material from his time with Stories.
Other work
He wrote songs for Elkie Brooks's 1975 album, Rich Man's Woman. He also sang on a re-recording of "Brother Louie" for Louis C.K.'s TV series "Louie".
