Effective period / Period of releases: 1970 - 1983

Jamaican born James Lloyd moved to London during his youth. There he studied at the Ivor Mirants College Of Music. Soon he was touring Europe, especially Germany, where he got a contract with Ariola Records. Lloyd scored his first hit with ‘Frag Mein Herz’. He broke through outside Germany with the second single ‘Keep On Smiling’. The song was produced by John Bartels. He later worked with Bobby Farrell of Boney M., La Toya Jackson and the Dutch schlager duo Frank & Mirella, among others. He joined the Chaplin Band, with whom he scored several hits in the Netherlands in 1982, including ‘ll Veliero’ and' 'Gold'. James Lloyd co-wrote ‘Keep On Smiling’ with Friedel Berlipp and Joe Lordup. The single spent three weeks at No 1 in Flanders from 13 June and became the third biggest hit of the year in the Ultratop. In the Netherlands, ‘Keep On Smiling’ never went higher than No 17. James Lloyd later scored further top 10 hits with ‘Je T'Aime Je T'Aime Chérie’ and ‘Lolito Lolo’ and about six top 30 hits. In autumn 1982, ‘Keep On Smiling’ was re-released and reached No 11 in the Ultratop. After his years of success, Lloyd moved to Trinidad to start his own recording studio and record label. He later returned to Europe. From 2011, he worked from Germany's North Rhine-Westphalia.

In 1985 his daughter Desiree Heslop scored a huge hit as Princess with ‘Say I'm Your No. 1’ - a Stock Aitken & Waterman production that was good for a UK No 1, among others.