FLOYD LLOYD  

Singer/songwriter, pianist and music publisher Floyd Lloyd Seivright was born in St. Ann, Jamaica. He began his musical career at the age of twelve at the Alpha Catholic School, Jamaica's "fife and drum" school founded in the late 1880's. Alpha produced such musical giants as Lennie Hibbert, Don Drummonds, Tommy McCook and Rico Rodriquez, who served as inspiration for Floyd.  

Over the years, Floyd Lloyd has worked extensively with his mentors, writing for Derrick Morgan, playing the McCook, touring and recording with Laurel Atkin and producing live albums with Justin Hinds and Rico Rodriquez. Both Rico and renown Jamaican guitarist Ernest Ranglin are featured on many tracks of Floyd's recent releases, most notably VILLAGE SOUL and MANGO BLUES. VILLAGE SOUL, Tropic's instrumental album, features some of the last known performances of the late vibraphonist Lennie Hibbert.  

Floyd Lloyd uniquely fuses the sounds of Ska, Reggae, and jazz like no other artist. On TEAR IT UP: The Ska Album, he recorded with musicians from New Orleans, Jamaica and London, notably The Potato 5, Red Cloud and the New Orleans Jazz Stars creating a natural marriage between New Orleans brass and Jamaican rhythms. Having recently signed a licensing deal with Tuff Gong International, TEAR IT UP will be the first of Floyd's work to be released in July '97 with distribution through WEA in North America.  

After living in England for 24 years, Floyd is currently residing in New York. As a veteran of Euro-reggae/ska scene, he is established as a prolific singer and composer with hits like the Mighty Diamond's "Sweet lady" and Potato 5's "Big City" and "Jesse Jackson". "Floyd Lloyd and the Potato Five with Laurel Atkin" was the first ska album released on Sony Records in Japan and Asia. As well, he is featured on several compilation albums: Ska Stars of the 80's, This is Reggae Volume 1 & 2, united Colors of Ska and KMP's The Reggae Album.  

Floyd Lloyd Seivright was the first West Indian songwriter to be exclusively signed to EMI/KPM Music Publishing, producing reggae songs for use in film and television productions. In the seventies, he founded Tropic Entertainment ltd., a music publishing company that continues to see chart successes worldwide. His catalogue includes Justin Hinds, Lennie Hibbert, Ernest Ranglin, Kareem Baaqi and himself and is administrated by Warner Chappell/Basart in Europe