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Lloids of Lon Den

From Detroit but recorded at Great Lakes Studio in Sparta, Michigan

The following is an excerpt from an interview with Duane King from the “Psychedelic Baby” website:

1. Thanks a lot for taking your time to do this interview about your band! Firstly I would like to ask you about your childhood and teens years. What were some of the influences that made an impact on you back then and where did you grow up?
I grew up in Detroit, Michigan.  My influences were Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry and of course all the Motown artists. One Christmas when I was about 14, I got a little radio for a present and I used to listen to it late at night under the covers so as not to be discovered by my parents.  (I think I was supposed to be sleeping)  I picked up an R&B station down south somewhere and I heard the Motown song “Money” by Barrett Strong and it had a profound effect on me.  Of course Elvis and Chuck Berry and others were also amazing to me, but there was something about the Motown sound that was different.
2. Before Magic, were you or others in any other bands? Any releases from then perhaps?
I formed my first band in 1964, the year when music changed forever.  The Beatles, Rolling Stones and all the British groups revolutionized music for me and I think just about everyone.  To capitalize on this new phenomenon we named our group “The Lloids of Lon Den”.  We recorded a single on the now somewhat famous Fenton Records in Grand Rapids Michigan.  Side A was “You Will Go” and side B was “Girls Can Really Dance”.  These were my first two original songs.
We played some great venues in Michigan and opened for “The Kingsmen”, Roy Orbison, The Beach Boys and other groups from the early sixties.
And then like a dream come true, we got some interest from Motown Records on “You Will Go”.  We went to the famous Motown Records studio and met and played for one of the staff producers there.  We were in a position to be the first white group to be signed to Motown.  But everything came to an end when a week or so later I was drafted into the Army and sent to Vietnam.

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