Out of Fame and Pain Came Purpose and a Book: A Believer’s Perspective
On the latest episode of The Debbie Nigro Show, I had the real honor of talking with Robin Lloyd—a man whose life journey reads like a Hollywood script… but with a whole lot more heart.
Robin started his career as a singer, sharing stages with Marvin Gaye, Tina Turner, James Brown, The Supremes, and more.
He was part of the legendary Dick Clark Caravan of Stars, toured with iconic names, and was even managed by Shelly Berger (yep, the longtime manager of The Temptations).
But fame wasn’t enough.
After a moment of soul-searching (and realizing money doesn’t buy peace), Robin walked away from music and built a new life—literally. He became a celebrated minority homebuilder, landing on the cover of Builder Architect Magazine.
Then, life threw another curveball: a traumatic car accident that left him fighting for his life and re-learning to walk and talk.
Out of that pain came purpose.
During his recovery, Robin began writing reflections—snippets of wisdom and gratitude—which eventually became his new book, A Believer’s Perspective.
With the encouragement of our mutual longtime friend Paul Lambert, and the help of my favorite book coach Donna Kozik, Robin’s dream book became a reality.
His book is about hope, perspective, and divine connection.
“Everybody has a perspective,” Robin said on the show. “I just decided to share mine.”
Tune in to this podcast of our live conversation on The Debbie Nigro Show and hear Robin Lloyd’s incredible story, his time with greatness, his lessons from loss—and why believing is the most powerful thing we can do. If you’d rather read than listen the transcript of the audio is below.
AUDIO TRANSCRIPT:
And now back to the Debbie Nigro Show.
0:00:20
(Speaker 1)
Okay, legends, yes, musical legends. I have the great honor and if you’re just tuning in to the show here at the Debbie Nigro Show last night, Musicians United Okay, legends, yes, musical legends. I have the great honor and if you’re just tuning in to the show here at the Debbie Nigro show last night, Musicians United for ALS just was extraordinary amount of talent on stage and in the world there are so many talented people and when it comes to music you know I don’t have the gift of sharing that but I do have the gift of appreciating it. So
0:00:41
(Speaker 1)
today I’m going to introduce you to somebody who started in the music business, really talented person, and to a series of adventures, which life is always an adventure, and passages through to the next phase and then unexpected phases got to something he really, I guess, was meant to be doing. Robin Lloyd wrote a book and I’m holding it. It’s called The Believer’s Perspective. And the reason he’s on this show today, I’m proud to say, is that a good, good friend of mine, who I talk to all the time, Paul Lambert, encouraged
0:01:17
(Speaker 1)
him to get this book done. And through my friendship with Paul, which goes 20 years, Paul was able to learn something from me about who might be helpful in doing this. And so I was able to share a book coach, Donna Kozik, and somehow it all got around to Robin’s book, Getting Done. A little background on him before I introduce you, born in Mississippi, M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I, back in jump rope days right was a popular entertainer yeah he was he was in show business as a singer and we’re gonna talk about his backstory because he was traveling
0:01:53
(Speaker 1)
around there and was a Dick Clark caravan of stars for a while I was friends with everybody who used whose names you might know Marvin Gaye and the Supremes and James Brown and Tina Turner and Patti LaBelle and H.P. Barnum, who was very instrumental also in helping him get this book done. And then throughout this process, things happened, right? Things happened.
0:02:17
(Speaker 1)
He felt something was missing. We all have had moments in our life where he felt something was missing. Maybe he should be doing something else. I don’t know. One day he says, I’m not singing anymore, that’s it. And he became an entertainment consultant. And then after that, he built his own house and I’m like, oh, he’s like, I really like this, got married,
0:02:32
(Speaker 1)
found the construction business to be fascinating, went over to do construction and landed on the front page of like Architecture Magazine, like the first minority builder like amazing right and then unfortunately there was a day he was in a terrible car accident which also put him into a different place and you know what is going on in my life who am I here when you’re in a difficult place you always looked above to whoever it is you and your heart believe in is above for guidance for help please God right we all have done that. Okay. And then you hopefully remember that when things get better and are always appreciative. So that’s what this book is
0:03:12
(Speaker 1)
about. It’s called a believer’s perspective and Robin Lloyd, I am so happy to meet you.
0:03:18
(Speaker 2)
It’s a great pleasure to meet you also.
0:03:21
(Speaker 1)
Hi. Yeah. Hi there. I know Paul loves you. And I can tell by your picture and your voice. You got some kind of special little magic there, Robin. So you got it done. You got the book done. Congratulations to you. Thank you. Amazing. Now, would I correct in reading that you started writing a blog along the way after, I think I summed up your life pretty good, but we’re going to go back and talk.
0:03:47
(Speaker 1)
But you started doing all these little snippets that now are in this book of your wisdom, advice, things you learned and want people to remember.
0:03:56
(Speaker 6)
Yes?
0:03:57
(Speaker 2)
Yes, I did. It’s just a perspective, my perspective on different things. And I’m pretty sure that everybody has their own perspective but they just don’t share it with anyone, you know?
0:04:07
(Speaker 1)
Absolutely. You know, I told Paul, I don’t do religion or politics on this show, but I am a very spiritual person and I am grateful always. You know, I believe in divine intervention. I’ve seen it in my life a billion times and it still happens all the time. I go and I look up I go you you’re good. You you’re good. Let’s go back a little bit because I’m a huge Dick Clark fan. I actually grew up in Mount Vernon, New York where Dick Clark was in the first Mount Vernon High School Hall of Fame sitting next to my father if you can believe that. Yeah so I
0:04:43
(Speaker 1)
grew up watching Dick Clark, American Bandstand, and that’s how I learned how to dance, Robin. What were you doing? Singing and traveling? Tell me.
0:04:51
(Speaker 2)
Well, I’ll tell you what, we were like most kids, you know. TV is the kids’ day thing. Radio was our day back in the day. Everybody wanted to be heard on the radio. Yep. And so we didn’t know. We just aspired to be heard, you know, and most kids now want to be seen. Right. And that’s what happened, but we were in the right place at the right time and Vic Clark came along and we just got that shot.
0:05:21
(Speaker 1)
Wow, wow. How did you get discovered to be part of that? Where were you physically in the world when that happened?
0:05:26
(Speaker 2)
I was in Los Angeles. I’m living in Los Angeles and I had a manager by the name of Shelly Burger. And Shelly Burger people don’t realize that he left Los Angeles to manage one of the Motown group and he’s been their manager for almost 60 years now. All the temptations.
0:05:45
(Speaker 1)
Yes, I know the name. And I know Shelly Berger’s name.
0:05:48
(Speaker 2)
Shelly wanted to take me with him because I had just been touring with James Brown and I wasn’t quite known at the time. But, yeah, I did a little local show called Slosh and Shuffle, which was like Chevy Checkers, a twist,
0:06:04
(Speaker 2)
and being a little chubby kid. They thought, I’m going to be the next Chubby Checker. I don’t know how
0:06:09
(Speaker 1)
about it. That’s so funny. You were at, you were part of an iconic time in music history. So that was an amazing start, Ray. Amazing. What was a day when you decided maybe it wasn’t all that and you needed to try something new? Where was that thought? When did that come in? Yeah, it’s like the time when you find out yourself just
0:06:29
(Speaker 2)
doing things just for the money. Yep. And that, you know, money can buy you a lot of things but it just don’t buy you peace of mind. And one day I woke up and I was on stage just for the money. Yeah. You know, my dad told me says, when you take people’s money, you take what goes along with it. And I just didn’t feel like I wanted to take those things. You know, I want to just I don’t know. Yeah, you know,
0:06:57
(Speaker 1)
yeah, actually, you do know and it’s a loud voice inside yourself. That’s telling you something that you decide one day to listen to. So that’s what happened to you. Okay, so you got married, your lovely wife, what’s your wife’s name? My wife’s name is Deirdre. Hi Deirdre. And then what, you built the house, you started construction. I love construction, I come from construction. My father built roads and I love that hands-on stuff. So you got, I know how you probably like, this is cool. So tell me about that. Well, I was, when I came to Texas,
0:07:29
(Speaker 2)
well, I was saying when I retired, someone hired me to be an entertainment consultant for private hotels and they happened to do, they owned the Sands Hotel in Vegas and Atlantic City and the Concord. And I built a home in Dallas, Texas,
0:07:44
(Speaker 2)
a little suburb called Wiley and my next door neighbor was Danny White of the Dallas Cowboys, Tony Dorsett. And as I was watching this, I said, you know, I could do this. And it was fun. And I treated it about eight months later, I quit my job. And my wife said, Are you crazy?
0:08:04
(Speaker 2)
We’re going to starve to death. No! This is gonna be my future. She said, I know you’re crazy.
0:08:11
(Speaker 1)
And then you weren’t crazy because you were on the cover of Architecture Magazine. That must have been a huge moment.
0:08:19
(Speaker 2)
Builders Architect Magazine is sort of like the Grammy, when the National Home Builders Association, they honor someone in your work. And that’s it. This is it for me. Yeah.
0:08:32
(Speaker 1)
I love your story so far. This is getting good. So, then we get to a bad part where you had a car accident, a very severe car accident. Total nightmare, right? Total nightmare. Yeah.
0:08:43
(Speaker 4)
Are you okay now?
0:08:44
(Speaker 2)
Yeah, I’m okay now. When I think about it, I couldn’t have been okay, but I think that was a very turning point in my life. Yeah, something happens to you that makes you say, hey, this is it. You know, and when I was in rehab, I started just little perspectives and sharing things and I started, it’s just like you Debbie, you have a perspective, that’s what you’re showing, it’s really a perspective.
0:09:08
(Speaker 2)
Right. And you’re just sharing your perspective and I started sharing my perspective, you know.
0:09:13
(Speaker 5)
So.
0:09:14
(Speaker 2)
And all of a sudden, it was, you know.
0:09:16
(Speaker 1)
How long were you in the hospital and how long were you in this recovery phase from this tragedy? Three months.
0:09:22
(Speaker 2)
Three months, long time. Three months and then I had to do three more months of learning how to walk and talk. I was on life support. So I had… Oh gosh, really?
0:09:30
(Speaker 1)
You’re on life support? That’s really, really heavy. Yeah. Yeah. I kind of went through something similar. I had ovarian cancer and had breast cancer, but the ovarian was a big heavy one because most people don’t live to tell you about it. And, you know, there are those moments where you know if you were before with me, thank God, but you’re like, oh, please, God, you know, and I, you know, I did look up and I have a little story you’ll appreciate. I was in my friend, my sister, she’s my sister friend, she’s not my only sister, but her houseboat, Mo, she’s bad this was, right? And I closed my eyes and I looked up and I put my fingers up like a V, like number two, and I said, please God, let it be stage two, you know, instead of like stage four, right?
0:10:12
(Speaker 1)
And I opened my eyes and I swear it was the most bizarre thing. My exact shape of my fingers was burned in the wood panel right above my head, like as if my fingers made the burn mark. I go, oh oh you’re good like so please God you know we’ve all got to please God so that’s what this book is about you know you you changed your thinking to be more focused on God and the above and all the things that the direct connection right yeah
0:10:38
(Speaker 2)
but I’d say more than that we’re going through that process I had it’s that’s when you really know about friendship Mary Mary Wilson, or God rest her soul, would call me once a week, you know, from the Supremes. And people like H.B. Barnum would call and say, how you doing? You know?
0:10:54
(Speaker 2)
And I don’t know if many people know Lou Anthony and the Imperials.
0:10:57
(Speaker 4)
Oh yeah.
0:10:58
(Speaker 2)
But Lou Anthony, he lives in Miami. And we talked to each other once a week now, you know, and they call me, how you doing? They just kind of, that’s what gives you a different perspective of what life is, you know? And now we’re just, you know, people say you’re a legend.
0:11:15
(Speaker 2)
You know, we just, I’ve lived long enough to people think we’re a legend, you know, but people like that gave me a, and meeting Paul Lambert, people don’t realize that
0:11:29
(Speaker 3)
HB Borman who did most of the arrangements for the Motown artists when they moved to California
0:11:38
(Speaker 2)
So yeah, that’s what gave me a different perspective of what everything’s about and just talking with you You know, and I listen to your show and you you have a great perspective. That’s why I Said hey, I’d like to talk to you. Thank you. Say hello to you. Thank you my friend who moved from Vegas to Texas last year Brian Holland, oh my buddy He lives 10 minutes away from me so we we talked to each other which everybody don’t know So we’ll share that he wrote most of those hits for the Supremes and the Four Tops and Temptations.
0:12:08
(Speaker 2)
He had implants now. He’s taking all his teeth out.
0:12:10
(Speaker 1)
Oh, well, I’ll tell him I’m in dental hell, too. I call it dental mental. Send him my love back. I had the joy of meeting the famous Holland Dozier, Holland Through Paul, and one of our projects. through Paul and one of our projects and you know they’re royalty and it was just joyful because you know when you connect with somebody he’s just got an inner light, Brian. He’s
0:12:30
(Speaker 1)
very, very special. And I feel you’re light too. You have something very special about you that comes through the airwaves, Robin. So for those of you just tuning in, I’m having the lovely opportunity to talk with Robin Lloyd who’s got a new book out called a believer’s perspective Really beautiful encouraging words that come Out of the book about what he’s wanted to share and he’s been sharing in his blog But now he’s sharing it bigger to the world. So
0:12:59
(Speaker 1)
very nice meeting you and I think it’s all about the difference believing makes is that that your message? The difference believing makes and whatever you choose to believe that there is more than just us on this planet. Okay there’s more to there’s more happening. So great you sound great keep it going I hope the books are success.
0:13:16
(Speaker 2)
Yeah listen I hope that you could be more successful than you are now it is a
0:13:20
(Speaker 1)
pleasure. Thank you. Pleasure. Thank you. Have a great, great day. All right, everybody. You know, there is divine stuff happening. So however you accept it, you know, acknowledge it from whatever perspective you believe, know it’s happening and may it work you know, acknowledge it from whatever perspective you believe, know it’s happening and may it work in your favor. All right, back with one more segment here on the Debbie Nigro Show next.
