Jimmy Lloyd’s modest home in the center of Tel Aviv has the feeling of a museum: a host of historical photographs decorate the walls, from a joint photograph of Lloyd with Cheech (Shloma Lahat), the mythical mayor of Tel Aviv, through a joint photograph with Zvika Pick, to Photographs from Lloyd’s performances before soldiers in the Yom Kippur War. “If you have health and life is in therapy, then everything in your health will fall,” Lloyd, 97, tells me.
Over the years, Lloyd, who arrived in Israel in 1963, was an integral part of Israeli culture: he performed before IDF soldiers on a voluntary basis beginning with the Six Day War; he participated in the Hasidic Singer Festival with the song “Ki Bi Simcha Tzaon” (1977) as well as in the klezmer festivals in Safed; Plowed the discotheques and clubs of Israel, from south to north; He even appeared abroad on behalf of the Jewish Agency. In fact, Lloyd feels so Israeli that he decided to celebrate his birthday on November 29, the day on which the United Nations decided to establish the state. “For me, the day I discovered the State of Israel is the day I was reborn” , He says. “For me there is no other date. Before I came to Israel I didn’t know there was such a thing as ‘Israel’, and now I don’t know any other place. Israel is my home.”
He was born on the island of Trinidad in the Caribbean. “Every day was a carnival with us, Brazil’s carnivals are a joke compared to the celebrations that were in those years in Trinidad,” he says. “My mother always said that as soon as I was born I already started singing. All my life I sang – in school, in church and at events. I come from a family of musicians, My grandmother was a singer, and my uncles played guitars and clarinet.”
In 1956 he won the young talent contest of the local radio station in Trinidad with a song by Nat King Cole, the idol of his youth, who at that time was in Trinidad for one of his historic performances there. “He happened to be on his way from the theater where he was performing to the hotel where he was staying and he heard me sing his song on the radio,” recalls Lloyd. “Three days later I had an interview on the radio, and he also happened to be a guest at the same radio studio and we met. Because of him I left Trinidad, after he told me : ‘Jimmy, if you come to America, I will help you advance your career.’ But instead of going to America, I went to London, because in England there were no problems with the passport.”
Lloyd arrived in London in 1956 and began performing in the local clubs there. “The Philips record company signed me to a recording contract,” he recalls. “At first the record company wanted me to sing rock and roll because of my black color, but I told them I wasn’t ready to sing rock and roll, but mostly jazz and swing.”
In the years 1958-1962, Lloyd recorded 14 CDs for the company, including songs such as Yellow Bird, You Are My Sunshine, Autumn Leaves and Teenage Sonata. Lloyd’s success in London led him to participate in the British musical film Six Five Special. In 1963, he was invited to participate in a German production of “Porgy and Bess”, and his performance of “Summertime” was a success there. “In Germany, I first discovered the term ‘Holocaust’ and first heard about Israel,” he says. “After the production ended, my promoter called me and said he had received an offer for me to perform in Israel, in Tel Aviv. I was shocked because I dreamed of performing in Israel.”
In July 1963, Lloyd landed in Tel Aviv and began performing at the “Zabra” club. “I was excited like a little kid to come to Israel for the first time, I was 38 years old and I felt like I was reborn,” he says. “I felt like I was living a dream. I didn’t know Hebrew and sang only in English, and when I finished the performance the audience cheered. I felt this was where I wanted to spend the rest of my life. The Israelis fell in love with me and I fell in love with Israel. It was a love story.”
Let Sharansky Go
Later, Lloyd joined the well-known trumpeter Eddie Calvert’s tour of Israel and began performing in all the popular night clubs in Israel. One of his unforgettable memories is the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War. “I was sitting on the sofa and suddenly I heard an alarm, and my landlady, who was like a mother to me, said to me: ‘Jimmy – war!'” he recalls. “I gathered my orchestra and drove on my own to the Golan Heights to perform for the soldiers, but I didn’t know that you had to ask for permission from the army for this. I performed in front of soldiers without a microphone, I sang calypso songs and happy songs to make the soldiers happy. When I returned home from the Golan Heights, soldiers from Kirya called me and explained to me that I have to continue performing in front of soldiers, and I can’t do this on my own So they gave me a uniform and flew me in a Hercules to the various outposts to make the soldiers happy.”
What do you remember from those performances?
“After the first performance, one of the soldiers brought me his lieutenant’s uniform. I also appeared in hospitals before combat soldiers and wounded soldiers. One day I appeared there with the American entertainer Danny Kaye, who also came to entertain soldiers. I saw a wounded soldier lying on a bed and shouting enthusiastically: ‘Jimmy Lloyd, what are you doing here?’ I asked him: ‘What are you doing here?’ He told me that he had taken several bullets in the battle, and when they wheeled him out for surgery he said: ‘Jimmy Lloyd – be well’. That’s when I understood the beauty of the IDF and the Israelis. There were soldiers who told me: ‘Before we saw you we thought we were dead, but when we heard you sing, we felt like an angel had touched us.’ ‘After hearing you sing, I realized that my son died for a holy cause, for Israel’. These are moments I will never forget.”
Another performance he will never forget took place in 1978, when he appeared in the United States to raise funds for Israel. “I performed with Hebrew songs, and at the end of the performance I sang ‘Let Sharansky Go’, so that Natan Sharansky would be released, and the whole audience shouted along with me, and after that I sang ‘Jerusalem of Gold,'” he describes. “It was a surreal moment.”
In 1976, Lloyd recorded his first album in Israel, in which he performed songs in Israeli along with original songs in Hebrew, and among other things included a duet with Gali Atari (“True Love”) and Tzipi Zarenkin (“In Love”). The standout song from the album was “Pure Heart”.
the last time
Although his health has deteriorated in recent years, Lloyd continues to perform on stages. In 2021 he had a heart attack and needed a pacemaker transplant. After a long period of rehabilitation, he was released home, and since then he has needed medical and nursing care, but because he is not defined as an “Israeli citizen”, Yado is unable to receive the treatment. Today, according to him, relatives and friends voluntarily obtain the critical medications for his health, and he is helped by donations to cover the His recent application to the Population Authority for Israeli citizenship in order to obtain medical insurance so that he can finance his medical treatments – has not yet been answered.
“It’s infuriating to see the treatment, or rather the lack of treatment, that Jimmy receives from the various institutions,” says drummer and musician Yossi Pepo Levy, Lloyd’s close friend and who has performed with him for many years. “For six decades, Jimmy contributed and continues to contribute his all And his voice for the country, he volunteered for the IDF soldiers in Israel’s wars and risked his life on the various fronts. Jimmy also appeared in the home front in front of wounded soldiers and Lumi fought in all corners of the country, wherever he was asked.”
“Jimmy went on international tours to raise donations for the country and brought millions into the country through concerts and fundraising events, and above all served as the country’s ambassador out of an immense love for the State of Israel, the Jewish people and the righteousness of their path and faith in them. And what does the country give him in return? It turns its back on him. If he had receives from the state the treatment of an Israeli citizen, as befits one who has dedicated his whole life to the state and considers it his home, his present could have looked different. After all, in the Torah it is written ‘Don’t throw me away in old age’, this is not just a slogan – this should be the attitude of society and the state especially towards The giants who founded it, fought for its existence, and ignited the fire of love for it.”
“Jimmy, in his current state of health, is unable to work and generate income to take care of himself, so an application for citizenship has been submitted on his behalf, which has not yet been granted. We are doing everything we can to thank Jimmy for everything he has done for our country. This is the least we can do for He who put his fate in the hands of the state and did a lot to give its residents moments of happiness and hope, with a stubborn belief in its righteousness. This is the last time to repay Jimmy, who did for us without compensation. I would expect the Ministry of the Interior or anyone from the government who hears about his story and especially about his contribution – to raise the The glove and will help confirm his acceptance of Israeli citizenship, especially when it comes to an artist who devoted himself to the cause of the country. It’s a shame that this is the treatment that a 97-year-old veteran artist should receive at the end of his life.”
The Population and Immigration Authority responded: “Mr. James Lloyd Boucher is a British citizen who entered Israel in March 2003 on a three-month tourist visa. From June 2003, almost 20 years, he has been staying in Israel illegally. At the beginning of December 2022, after 20 years As mentioned, he submitted a humanitarian application for status, apparently as part of his medical treatments. The applicant is not entitled to status by virtue of the law, and the application will be examined according to the procedures in the framework in which the application was submitted.”