Lloyd Polite was born January 3,
1986, in New Orleans, Louisiana, to Lloyd Polite Sr. and Robin Polite. After the death of his father at age two, Lloyd moved
with his mother and older sister Brandy to Atlanta, GA.
Like his father, Lloyd showed a talent
for performing. At the age of four his voice was already garnering attention. Encouraged by his mother and her father affectionately
called “Paw-Paw”, Lloyd began singing at parties and other functions.
Joyce Irby and Leonard Watkins discovered
Lloyd at age eleven during a performance at the Avondale School of Performing Arts. The pair wasted no time signing Lloyd
and placing him in the role of lead singer for the group N-TOON. Game recognizes game, N-TOON was quickly signed by the label
DreamWorks, and released their debut album TOON-TIME in the spring of 1999 to moderate success.
At the end of the summer Lloyd decided
to embark on a solo career. Amid much fanfare inside the industry, Magic Johnson Records signed Lloyd. The next year was spent
creating a album project under the tutelage of David Gates (label head), and Walter Young (A&R Director). Unfortunately,
before the official release of the album, Gates and Young decided to leave the label for professional reasons, leaving Lloyd
with a killer album, but no label.
Fast forward five months to Lloyd’s chance meeting with Irv Gotti, CEO of “Murder Inc.,”
records. Gotti offered Lloyd a contract on the spot, but legendary hit maker Antonio “LA” Reid of Arista records
was also pursuing Lloyd. After mulling his options for two weeks Lloyd decided to go with Gotti’s organization. The
industry being what it is, “LA” soon moved to head Def Jam for reason’s of his own, giving credence to the
saying that, “All things work to the greater good.”
