About The Artist

With a fiery voice and a handful of love letters, PJ Loughran (pronounced, Lo’ck-rin) has been receiving standing ovations across the country since 2001. Now a resident of the great city of Chicago, he continues to captivate audiences through his uninhibited performances and dynamic, evocative songwriting.

PJ grew up in Albertson, Long Island, listening to the sounds streaming out of the tape deck of his family’s station wagon - Simon and Garfunkel while mom was driving, and Irish Folk when dad was at the wheel. And like every kid growing up in the ‘burbs at the time, 80’s pop filled the rest of his head space, including the sounds of the Police, Billy Joel and Men at Work. From a young age, PJ had exhibited a natural affinity for art and music, eventually developing his drawing skills and discovering jazz as a saxophone player in high school.

By graduation, PJ had made the somewhat “practical” decision to put music aside to pursue a career in art. He enrolled at Parsons School of Design and moved to the big city, all the while keeping his hands dirty in the local music scene, playing sax (and singing backup vocals) in numerous bands and eventually picking up the guitar, allowing him to explore the fundamentals of songwriting. He eventually graduated with a degree in illustration, which currently supports his music. His client list includes hundreds of national and international publications and his illustrations appear regularly in Esquire, Time Magazine, Sports Illustrated, GQ, Fortune, Forbes, and the New York Times, among others.

With a steady illustration career in place, PJ hit the New York open mic scene in January of 2001 to hone his craft, armed only with the few tunes he’d developed in his art school days. by the summer, he’d assembled a band, completed a full repertoire of material and set up a regular show schedule. With in a year, PJ was already hitting the road and scoring some choice opening spots, including dates with R.E.M., Maroon 5, Taj Mahal, Todd Rundgren, Jonny Lang, and the North Mississippi All-Stars, among others. His energetic performances, approachable presence and acrobatic “scat” vocals have quickly attracted a loyal following which continues to grows steadily day by day, show by show…