Carol Lloyd passes away after lengthy battle with illness

Carol Lloyd, hailed as everything from “Australia’s first rock chick” to “Queensland music’s mother figure”, has lost her three-year battle against terminal pulmonary fibrosis in a Brisbane hospital. She was 68.

Queensland Premier and Minister for the Arts, Annastacia Palaszczuk, whose family counted Lloyd as a family friend, said Lloyd was “a trailblazer in rock’n’roll and she was passionate about encouraging the next generation of musicians.”

The Premier added, “She was … an inspiration to me. I admired her and I will miss her. She was warm, funny and inspirational. Through her illness, Carol remained positive.”

Last year, before the Queensland music community rallied to raise funds with the Goodbye Ruby Tuesday concert, Katie Noonan called her “the mother figure of the Brisbane and Queensland music scene” who “paved the way for countless female musicians like me.”

Emerging in the ‘60s in conservative Queensland, Lloyd began as a radio writer and producer on Brisbane station 4KQ.

She moved to London and worked at global TV series distributor ITC. She issued contracts for the worldwide sales of TV shows including The Saint, Danger Man and The Thunderbirds.

Returning to Queensland, she joined Railroad Gin, the first woman to front a blues-rock band in the male dominated ‘70s. It was impossible to ignore her. Her big orange hair was insured for $100,000 by Lloyd’s of London.

She’d come out onstage in leather or army fatigues with bullets strapped across her chest and a Bowie knife strapped to her leg. Occasionally, she would hit the platform in just a fur cape with sequins on her nipples.

BB King invited her back to America after she opened for him during an Australian tour. Lloyd became the first Australian to score a worldwide publishing deal with EMI Music. She was open about her drug problems and sexuality.

She was a symbol – and voice – of rock rebellion, kicking against the establishment of Joh Bjelke-Petersen’s stifling Queensland.

Railroad Gin’s huge live following saw three singles and their debut album Matter of Time go to #1. Follow up Mother was Asleep was a hit in Germany, France, Japan, Holland and Indonesia.

She later formed the Carol Lloyd Band and then went solo, while continuing to chart around the world.

Such was Lloyd’s explosive personality that she tried everything. She co-wrote the theme song for for World Expo 88, Together We’ll Show the World, and won silver in New York for radio jingles.

She set up her own agency, covering ads, music, theatre and events. She produced festivals all over the state, and did marketing for the ABC. In between, she mentored countless young talents.

When she was diagnosed with lung disease in April 2013 and told she would not beat it, she threw herself into work. She did duet albums, collaborative and solo stage shows and started work on her memoirs.

The Queensland music industry in turn showed its gratitude and admiration. Brisbane City Council installed a plaque for her and Railroad Gin in the Valley Hall of Fame. QMusic inducted her into the Hall of Fame and awarded Lloyd the Grant McLennan Memorial Lifetime Achievement award.

Last October, the Queensland Music Festival set up an award in her name, to provide $15,000 for an emerging female Queensland singer-songwriter to record and tour. Sadly, she never lived to see the first recipient. But it is yet another great legacy that Carol Lloyd leaves behind.