Clifton “DJ” Lloyd deejays at various cultural events around the territory.
His playlist often consists of oldies, disco and R&B. Mr. Lloyd started his public service career in telecommunications, and he retired from the BVI Ports Authority in 2012 after serving as a security officer for 20 years. The 67-year-old, who calls himself a “lover of people,” became a deejay many years ago following requests from people who heard him playing music on his turntable on his porch in Leonard Estate.
My name is Clifton Lloyd: I gave myself the name DJ Lloyd. I am 67 years now. I grew up in Harrigan Estate, and we had to walk from Harrigan to school in Road Town. I left school in 1963, and then on the 10th of June, 1964, I got a job to work as a messenger in the telecommunications centre in the BVI.
The government had an office upstairs of the post office where they had radios, and everything was just like tap, tap, tap. If you had to call overseas, you had to come to the post office at the telephone booth to make your call.
In a year, I moved up to the position of telephone operator. The office used to be open from 7 in the morning till 10 at night. The only telephone communication we had here was from Fort Burt to Pasea Estate: the Hamsleys and the Roys. At that time five people were on one line. Only a few people in Tortola had telephone, and these were the people who were rich and famous.
Cable & Wireless came eventually, and I actually trained all the people who later went to Cable & Wireless. I was the only one that remained at government’s telecommunications centre.
They later moved the switchboard to the admin building. I operated from there, connecting the different offices. You couldn’t call directly. My job was to put you on from one office to the next. You had to come through me.
I later went on to work as a customs officer for a while. I even went to Trinidad to get some training. I took sick there and came home and didn’t want to go back to Trinidad, so they moved me to the electricity department, where I was a cashier for quite a while.
Lover of music
I am a lover of music, and when I tell you music I mean good music. I have all the music from the 50s all the way. Today’s music isn’t my type. Some of the music they play is all about women, and I think women get abused too much in the music today. The dancing is a wuk-up, bending-over situation, which don’t look pleasant for the young folks that we have coming up. You have man on mic now say them playing music, but talking and bawling out and saying nothing. But that’s what the young people like today.
They can’t dance. They put a lady in front, bend her down with her face to the ground and man behind her — that’s not dancing. That’s very indecent and disrespectful. I don’t believe in that. I ask a few ladies to dance with me and they want to turn around. I say, “No way. No baby. I don’t do that. I love to dance; I am a dancer and I will show you how to dance. Don’t bend down in front of me like we are animals.” I don’t tolerate that. Women get knocked about in life by men. The way they talk about [women’s] body parts on the radio is wrong. Women should be respected.
In those days, we only did the close dance with our girlfriends. You keep your distance, but when I dance with my baby I hold her to my chest. You have to have that loving feeling when you dance with your baby, because you know at the end of the night you will be okay.
Good music
The real good music is like the Mighty Sparrow, Kitchener, Lord Nelson. Those are Trinidad people. The Americans — Percy Sledge, Otis Redding, Joe Simon, Jerry Butler. All those musicians had a message. They talked about love — L-O-V-E — and not these things today abusing lady body parts and things. I am a deejay, but I don’t play those songs: I don’t like the words in them.
We lost this loving feeling. Love today is completely different from my days. They don’t know what is love. We played loving songs with messages.
On the porch
Even while I was working, I used to be on the porch playing music. I used to fix radios and record players. I went to no school, but sometimes people carried their players to technicians, and when they got them back they couldn’t get them to play. They bring them to me and I make them play.
I’m on the porch playing music, and people would pass and ask where I get all that music from. I would be up in Leonard Estate, and people in Long Bush could hear the music. The wind blew the sound all the way down. People decided they wanted me to come play for them. I would go from East End to West End and wherever. They would pay me a small fee. It was $50 to $75. I never charged people per hour.
I never have a dull moment at home, even if it’s only me at home. If you come to my home I will show you all the music equipment I still have. The turntable is there — top of the line still. I have CDs by the hundreds and records by the thousands. You name a song from way back, I have it in my collection.
I feel good when I play music and people dance, and if they don’t dance I dance by myself. I can never play music without dancing. I don’t have energy like before, but I still dance. I am very active. Apart from my eyes, I still move around.
AUDIO: Click here to listen to a segment of the interview with DJ Lloyd.
Clip 2
{fcomment}