Moraine Valley graduate Dylan Lloyd, ’09, is realizing a dream he has chased since a child. He has never doubted music is his future.
One of the biggest career achievements to date for the vocalist is having his own Pandora station. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a huge accomplishment for me. I mean to hear me sing my music, then Bruno Mars or Ed Sheeran and then go back to my song. That鈥檚 just鈥攚ow,鈥� Lloyd said.
He鈥檚 also quite a pianist, something he began teaching himself when he was 5 years old. 鈥淚 started to listen to pianists like Ben Folds, Elton John and Stevie Wonder and just copied them,鈥� he said.
A love for music drove Lloyd and some friends to play together. 鈥淲hen you鈥檙e in a band in the Beverly area, the gig of a lifetime is Fisher Fest. You do that; you鈥檝e made it. And we did Fisher Fest. I was doing a lot of different things just to get music into my life,鈥� Lloyd said.
Upon graduating from Mt. Carmel High School, he enrolled at Moraine Valley. 鈥淚 knew I wanted do music, but I didn鈥檛 know if college was the right route to do the kind of music I wanted to do. It鈥檚 such a gray area.鈥�
Attending Moraine Valley turned out to be the right decision, and he gives credit to his former music teacher at the college. 鈥淭he best for me? The smaller classes, which were crucial to my learning. They were just so engaging,鈥� he said. 鈥淭ammi Carlson was a wonderful influence on me. I actually learned to semi-read music because of her,鈥� he said. 鈥淭ammi opened the door for the theoretical aspect of music. She made me understand the logistics of what I was creating as opposed to 鈥極K, this is this chord or that chord.鈥� She was teaching me how they were inter-related. She saw what I could become today.鈥�
Among the highlights from Moraine Valley was the thrill of winning the Moraine Valley Idol competition, and writing music in the practice rooms in the . 鈥淚 would spend hours in the practice rooms writing. I think a lot of the music I was writing helped set me up for a publishing deal,鈥� said Lloyd, who has been signed as a professional songwriter since 2009.
After graduation from Moraine Valley, he met someone in the business who told him he should take his talent to California. 鈥淥f course that made my antenna go up and I thought, 鈥業 am out of here.鈥� I left everything behind,鈥� Lloyd said. 鈥淚t was the first time I had ever taken a road trip. Just the whole freedom of actually chasing a dream, and it was awesome.鈥�
While most of Lloyd鈥檚 time is spent , when he does take time off, he heads home to Chicago. A must-stop is the Original Rainbow Ice Cream shop in the Beverly area. 鈥淕otta have a rainbow cone. Oh, and of course, some of my favorite banana ice cream,鈥� he said. At the top of the to-do list when he鈥檚 home is visiting with his parents, and his sister and her four children. 鈥淲e hang out, play video games and watch scary movies. I鈥檓 a pretty wonderful uncle.鈥�
Listen to Lloyd鈥檚 music on 聽or download it on
