PEOPLE OF THE UAE
Mark Lloyd tells Esha Nag that he came to the UAE in 1985 for a three-month contract. Here’s how it turned out
Mark Lloyd came to the UAE’s shores for three months. 30 years on, the DJ has no plans of going anywhere else.
He came to Dubai as a musician on a three-month contract to perform at the Holiday Inn in Sharjah and stayed on for 33 years, becoming one of the most familiar voices on Dubai radio. That rich baritone, those beautiful soft rolling vowels, typical of his hometown of Shaw in greater Manchester in northern England, first went on air in 1991 on the Good Sounds show on Dubai 92, at that time the only Englishspeaking radio station in Dubai. Since then, Mark Lloyd, aka Mr. Cool (as he was known during his early days in the city), has interviewed everyone from Quincy Jones to penguins, and says he’ll probably cry when he has to leave the UAE. Nowadays, you can hear him on Dubai Eye’s afternoon travel show, The Ticket, and may well bump into him (look out for that distinctive bleached-blonde hairstyle) on a stroll around Karama.
‘I came to Dubai in 1985 as part of a two-member band called Blitz to perform at the Holiday Inn in Sharjah, a beautiful hotel right on the lagoon. I was curious about the UAE and told myself, “why not give it a go?”. I clearly remember the drive from the tiny airport in Dubai to Sharjah. There were not too many buildings and it seemed desolate, a kind of an eerie experience with the calls to prayer, which I didn’t understand then,’ remembers Mark.
Soon after his first gig in Sharjah, things fell into place as he started performing in other emirates as well as Bahrain over the next few years. ‘We played a lot of covers of ’80s songs, from Madonna to Cyndi Lauper, to Dire Straits and even some jazz, blues and reggae. That’s when I fell in love with the UAE. From Sharjah, we would perform at the Dubai Hilton, then went up to Abu Dhabi and even Fujairah. Those were wonderful years of hard work, playing 45-minute sets per night, but so rewarding.’
It was only later, in Abu Dhabi, where Mark met his wife, Jean, that he felt the need to settle down with a stable job. ‘I had a good voice and loved music so friends told me to try the radio. It was in 1991 that I first walked into the offices of Dubai 92, opposite Rashid Hospital, and did an audition. The first song I played was Phil Collins – Something Happened On The Way To Heaven – and the jury listened to me speak. The verdict was positive.’ Mark’s first show was Good Sounds at 4pm, playing laid-back romantic numbers for an hour. He was soon anchoring the Weekend Breakfast Show and later The Wave, every afternoon from 2-4pm.
‘When I started in 1991, things at work were completely different than what they are today,’ says Mark. ‘We used to buy a lot of magazines and newspapers just to get content to talk about. I remember writing out a playlist of the tunes I wished to play and then a librarian would find them in our huge library of vinyl albums, singles and CDs and put them in a cardboard box with our names labelled
‘People recognised my voice, and it was a great feeling when you bumped into listeners at supermarkets’
on it. Now all our interview clips, music and jingles are loaded onto computers to play out, plus of course we have the internet for all the information we want. Technology has totally transformed radio shows. It’s all digital now.’
The radio as a medium to reach out to people was also more personal back then, says Mark. ‘There was a real connection to people. When the telephone lines would open at 6am, they would get busy very quickly with callers wanting to speak to you and put in a song request. Even though it was more music radio than talk radio, people recognised my voice and it was a great feeling when you bumped into listeners at supermarket. They recognised me when they heard my voice. It was a real honour to get so much love and even today, every time the microphone goes on, I feel privileged to be there talking to the nation.’
For Mark, his most memorable show was Entertainment Today on Dubai Eye (following the privatisation of Dubai 92), which he shared with the late broadcaster Jason Lumber. Not just co-presenters but also dear friends, Lumber and Mark (as they were fondly called), had great on-air chemistry. ‘We took the show to the Oscars and the New York Film Festival and we broadcast from all around Dubai, from the film festival to the Arabian Travel Market. They were amazing years and Jason was the most amazing person I have ever met.’
On Entertainment Today, Mark interviewed celebrities from George Clooney and George Benson to Quincy Jones and Morgan Freeman. ‘I think interviewing Quincy Jones was my finest moment and after we’d had a great interview about his musical achievements, he leaned over and said, “I love the do”. I asked him what he meant, and he said, “your hair do, man. It’s really cool”.’
‘Back in the day,’ says Mark, ‘popular culture was all about entertainment news and people were eager to hear celebrity gossip. We didn’t talk as much about health or parenting or travel as we do now. It was more about what Madonna was doing and the latest news about George Michael. During my early days as a presenter, my listeners would mainly be British expats, Indian nationals, Gulf expats and people from Pakistan. Now we have an audience from different corners of the world – South Africans, Australians, even Americans. It only shows how multicultural Dubai has grown to be.’
Mark’s current weekday afternoon show, The Ticket, which he hosts with Steff Burgon (formerly Geordie Bird) is all about the joys of travelling. ‘We’ve had some amazing adventures on The Ticket. We launched the show heading off to the Maldives. Then we went on a cruise in the Mediterranean, sailing out of Venice and we nearly missed the ship due to heavy traffic in Florence. We arrived on the dockside just as they were about to leave us and sail away. I still have nightmares about that,’ he says. Being on a cruise ship brings back great memories for Mark, who spent several years in the Caribbean as a musician on a cruise ship backing up the cabaret singers and performing at the captain’s cocktails. ‘Working on a cruise ship really taught me a lot about travel and different cultures. Meeting and working with so many nationalities taught me how to mix and socialise with people from all over the globe and it helped develop my confidence.’
Born in Toronto in Canada, and raised in greater Manchester, Mark had a happy childhood growing up on generous doses of Barry White, George Benson and Diana Ross. ‘I loved to play football and go fishing,’ he says and on weekends now, he drives off to Ajman for angling. ‘That’s the way I unwind. And I also frequent old Dubai quite a bit. You will not really find me at the Dubai Marina or any other place in new Dubai. I prefer going on an abra [wooden boat] on the Dubai Creek, walking down the old souqs, wandering around the shops of Karama. I love the old fish market in Karama, nothing has changed in these quarters and it is my comfort zone.’
During his early days in Dubai, Mark says, he went out with friends to The Highland Lodge to listen to the Filipino band 621. ‘Pancho Villas in the Astoria hotel was also amazing. They had different live bands and fabulous Mexican food. The other place we frequented was Rydges Plaza Hotel in Satwa, now known as The Chelsea. And of course I have great memories of performing at Falcon Lounge and the Al Fahidi Grill at the Dubai Hilton, which was next to the World Trade Centre; it no longer exists. Dubai was like a village back then, we all knew each other and it was absolutely wonderful.’
So would he have it any other way after so many years? ‘Absolutely not,’ says Mark. I have lived in an amazing country doing a job I love. I wouldn’t change a thing about my life. I have travelled, worked in music, and have had so much love from my listeners. I came on a three-month contract and I stayed and stayed and stayed. I think I will cry my eyes out when I have to leave.’