American multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter Michael Lloyd, who had been a member of
psychedelic rock band
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band when a teenager in the mid and late 1960s, was in 1970 appointed vice-president responsible for
A&R at
MGM Records by his mentor
Mike Curb. Lloyd continued to work as a
record producer, notably with
The Osmonds, but also maintained a career as a performer. In 1973 he formed a recording and songwriting trio,
Friends, with Darryl Cotton and
Steve Kipner. Darryl Cotton had been a member of
Zoot, who had several hit singles in Australia between 1969 and 1971. After the band split up, he travelled to the UK in 1972, and then to the US. Kipner was an American-born Australian, formerly a member of Steve & the Board and British-based band
Tin Tin, who had a hit in the US in 1971 with "
Toast and Marmalade for Tea". The album
Friends was released on the MGM label. Most of the songs were written by Cotton, Lloyd and Kipner, apart from the single, "Gonna Have a Good Time", which was a cover of
The Easybeats' song "Good Times". The album was produced by Lloyd. Friends dissolved shortly afterwards, and Kipner formed a new group, Skyband. Lloyd and Cotton left MGM when Curb also left to establish his own production company. The pair recruited
Texan-born Chris Christian, and in 1975 the trio recorded their first album,
Cotton, Lloyd & Christian, issued by
20th Century Records. Their version of the
Del Shannon song "
I Go to Pieces" - a 1965 hit for
Peter and Gordon - became a #66 hit on the
Billboard Hot 100 and #10 on the
Easy Listening chart. Other tracks included a slowed-down version of
the Supremes' hit "
Baby Love"; a medley of songs from
the Who's
Tommy; and "I Don't Know Why You Love Me". The album was repackaged by Curb and Lloyd in 1976, and used as the music soundtrack of a movie,
The Pom Pom Girls. The trio's second album,
Number Two, also appeared in 1976, and in April 1977 they released another single, "
Crying in the Rain", written by
Carole King and
Howie Greenfield and first recorded by the
Everly Brothers. Both albums were produced by Lloyd and Curb. No further recordings by the trio were released. Lloyd continued to work in
Los Angeles, and produced hit records by
Shaun Cassidy and
Leif Garrett, as well as the soundtrack to
Dirty Dancing. Cotton continued as a songwriter and performer, returning to Australia in 1978; he died in 2012. Christian also continued to work successfully as a songwriter and record producer, with
Amy Grant and others. ==Discography==