#1400: Eric Troyer

80s Snapshot:

• Number of songs on Hot 100: 1
• Highest peak position: 92
• Cumulative weeks on Hot 100: 2

The world of rock music is filled with countless personnel changes, and even more background contributions that too often go completely under the radar. American singer Eric Troyer has had a career spanning over 5 decades, and save for one brief moment of mainstream success, he perfectly embodies this trope of prolific work with little to no recognition.

Throughout the mid to late 1970s, Troyer earned session work on vocals and keyboards for a number of notable acts, including Johnny Winter, KISS and Aerosmith. On the strength of this work, he was signed to Chrysalis Records and began working with producer Jack Douglas, who had produced Aerosmith’s 1977 album Draw The Line which featured Troyer.

Troyer’s first solo single “Mirage” was released in the summer of 1980 and blended several of the dominant sounds of the period. His effortless falsetto blended with soft rock sensibilities and progressive rock instrumentation/effects to create a midtempo ballad that brings to mind the hits of Gary Wright. “Mirage” debuted on the Hot 100 at #92 on the 7/26/1980 chart, and held that position in its second and final week on the chart. The song also scraped onto the Australian singles chart, peaking at #97. Initially planned to be part of a full-scale album (first self-titled and then set to be named String Of Pearls), ultimately “Mirage” would be Troyer’s only released solo recording in the 1980s.

Though his story as a solo artist was over basically as soon as it began, Troyer was still able to carve out a truly impressive résumé throughout the rest of the decade. His in-demand session voice earned its largest booking to date when he appeared on John Lennon & Yoko Ono’s 1980 Double Fantasy album, an event record that ascended to even greater importance following Lennon’s murder less than a month after its release. Troyer also caught the attention of writer/producer Jim Steinman, whose bombastic take on pop music benefitted greatly from Troyer’s vocal ability. His background vocals would appear on numerous of Steinman’s projects across the next two decades, including a number of albums by Meat Loaf, Bonnie Tyler and Celine Dion.

In the late 80s, Troyer was recruited for his highest-profile opportunity to date, and one that he still continues to this day. When drummer Bev Bevan sought to continue recording as Electric Light Orchestra after their 1986 album Balance Of Power, lead vocalist Jeff Lynne was opposed to participating. As such, ELO formally split up, with Bevan creating ELO Part II as a legally distinct entity. Troyer was brought on with the tall task of serving as the Jeff Lynne stand-in, a role he has now succeeded in for over 3 decades. As ELO Part II, the band (with several ELO-affiliated musicians coming and going over the years) released two albums in 1990 and 1994, with their single “Honest Men” reaching #60 in the U.K. in 1991. In this time period, Troyer was also finally able to record and release his first solo album, 1993’s Model Citizen.

After Bevan left in 1999 and sold his share of the name ELO back to Jeff Lynne, Troyer and the remaining members of ELO Part II rebranded as The Orchestra. Including a 2001 album release, this iteration of the band with Troyer et al. (including a few musicians who recorded with the original Electric Light Orchestra) continues to perform. He is the only musician who has been with the group consistently since its founding in 1989.

While still fronting the various iterations of The Orchestra, Troyer remained a prolific session vocalist, and in addition to the aforementioned credits he has worked with Billy Joel, Barry Manilow, Barbra Streisand, James Taylor and dozens of other notable artists over the past 4 decades. While Eric Troyer’s solo career was incredibly short-lived, one does not have to look far to hear his vocal imprints all over the output of some of the most prolific pop and rock acts of the 70s and 80s.

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