Name any successful singer or band from the past 60 years and the chances are that Mike Lloyd OBE will know them, have worked with them or have an anecdote to share.
A music promoter, record shop owner and concert organiser, Mike has lived and breathed the Staffordshire music scene for decades.
He was awarded an OBE in the 2022 New Year’s Honours list for his services to classical music and his role as chief executive of Stoke-on-Trent Classics, which organises orchestral concerts.
But for many people he is best known for the chain of eponymous music shops that became an intrinsic part of the county’s musical culture.
Born and raised in Walsall, rock and roll was just beginning when Mike was growing up.
“I wanted to be a rock star,” he said. "That’s all I wanted to do. I went to the local grammar school but I did no work for my O levels. All I wanted to do was play my guitar.”
He started work as an apprentice at an engineering factory at the age of 16. At a Christmas dance in 1959 he overheard a conversation about a band needing a rhythm guitarist – by the New Year’s Eve he’d played his first gig for that band and earned 16 shillings.
By the age of 20 he was offered the chance to turn professional so that his band could tour with a Tamla group.
Years of touring and playing professionally followed before Mike took a job with an entertainment agency working largely in Stoke-on-Trent.
Eric Clapton, Elton John, ACDC, ABBA, The Rolling Stones – there are very few popular music artists that Mike hasn’t worked with in one way or another.
He remembers 2,000 tartan-wearing teenage girls waiting outside the Victoria Hall in Hanley to catch a glimpse of the Bay City Rollers.
On another occasion he booked ZZ Top to perform in a cattle shed that still smelt like a cattle shed.
Then there was the time he promoted a Rolling Stones concert at a swimming pool.
In 1971 Mike and his then business partner Terry Blood opened their first music shop in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent. Within three years they had a chain of seven shops.
Mike has juggled various commercial interests over the years, with a common thread of great music running through everything he does.
He has long since reached the age where he no longer needs to work, but has no intention of stopping.
“I’m still doing it because I love it,” he said. “I cannot tell you the kick I get out of it when I stand at the back of a concert that I’ve been involved with.
“There are times when I’d still like to be up there myself. It’s such an adrenalin rush. It doesn’t matter about the size on the gig. It doesn't matter if it’s a small show for 300 or a 10,000 capacity.”
On being made an Honorary Doctor of Staffordshire University, Mike says he feels he’s been given an honour for doing what he loves doing.
“I was staggered and couldn’t believe it,” he said. "I had been awarded an OBE at the Christmas and then a letter from Staffordshire University arrived out of the blue the following week.
“It was a fantastic feeling. I felt proud and very humble at the same time.”