Roy Loney

Roy Loney was a founding member of The Flamin' Groovies, an energetic frontman and, following his departure from the band, a solo artist in his own right. The first iteration of what would become the Groovies started when singer/guitarist Roy Loney, guitarist Cyril Jordan, drummer Ron Greco, bassist George Alexander and guitarist Tim Lynch got together one night after school and learned no less than 20 songs. They decided they had the makings of a band and went on to play battles of the bands and teen dances under the names the Chosen Few, and then the Lost and Found. They broke up briefly, but when they reformed in 1966 with drummer Danny Mihm replacing Ron Greco, The Flamin' Groovies were born in earnest. They haunted the periphery of San Francisco's music scene, not fitting in with the psychdelic sound that was popular at the time thanks to their fascination with early rock & roll and vintage R&B. Still, their self-published EP 'Sneakers' won them a record contract with Epic and their full-length debut was well-received. It was not, however, profitable, and Epic dropped the Groovies. They picked up a new deal with Kama Sutra, however, and with their third album 'Teenage Head' (1971) began seeing some commercial success. Meanwhile, however, Loney and Jordan were butting heads over the group's creative direction. Jordan won out, with Loney leaving and Tim Lynch following suit in the early '70s. Loney took a series of record industry jobs before returning to the studio in 1979 to record the EP 'A Hundred Miles an Hour' and, not long after, the full-length album 'Out After Dark' (1979). Dropping the Byrds-influenced style of the Groovies, he pursued a louder rockabilly-tinged sound, stepping confidently back into the rock scene of the time and releasing a string of indie records from 1979-1983. In 2009 Loney got back together with Cyril Jordan for a joint tour on which they played early-era Groovies hits, and he briefly joined the band for a 2019 tour before being forced to drop out by a fall. Loney died on December 13, 2019, aged 73.

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