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Loverboy's inception began in Calgary, CANADA, when vocalist Mike Reno
was introduced to guitarist Paul Dean at The Refinery Night Club. Dean
was rehearsing a new band out back in a warehouse with a friend of Reno
and Mike stopped by to jam. Dean heard him sing a couple of songs and
that was that! Over the next few weeks, Dean and Reno began writing songs
on guitar and drums. Keyboardist Doug Johnson who at the time was in another
Canadian recording band began to hang out and jam with Dean and Reno.
It was during one of those jam sessions with Reno on drums and Dean on
bass that their very first hit "Turn Me Loose" and Loverboy
was born. The line-up was soon completed with the addition of bassist
Scott Smith and drummer Matt Frenette.
After being rejected by all the major U.S. record companies Loverboy
signed with Columbia Records Canada. The summer of 1980 saw their self-titled
debut album fly out of the stores setting record sales for a debut album,
over 700,000 units in Canada. Columbia U.S. had no choice but recognize
that 700,000 people could not be wrong. The U.S. released the album in
November 1980 and by April 1981, it had gone gold. Loverboy's debut album
went on to sell over 4 million copies worldwide and more than 2 million
in the U.S. peaking at #13 on the Pop chart. The disc contained the aforementioned
smash "Turn Me Loose" which hit the U.S. Top 40 and peaked at
#6 on The Mainstream Rock chart, as well as a second Billboard's Hot 100
single, "The Kid Is Hot Tonite".
Soon the band found themselves playing on mega tours with Journey,
Bob Seger, Cheap
Trick, ZZ Top and Def Leppard,
to name a few. Between dates, over 200 shows in 1981 the band wrote and
recorded their second multi-platinum selling album. "Get Lucky"
shot to #7 on The Billboard 200 and featured "Working For The Weekend"
which debuted at #29 on The Pop Singles chart and returned them to the
Mainstream Rock top 10, falling one slot short of #1. The album spawned
three more Mainstream Rock top 40 singles: "When It's Over",
"Take Me To The Top" and "Lucky Ones" and the band's
enormous touring success, led Loverboy in 1982, to an unprecedented 6
Juno Awards, Canada's highest music award.
In 1983, Loverboy released their third LP, "Keep It Up" and
launched another extensive 8-month world tour; they charted again at #7
in U.S. with this album and the main single, "Hot Girls In Love",
peaked at #2 on The Mainstream Rock chart and reached the #11 position
on The Pop Singles list; "Queen Of The Broken Hearts" was another
American top 40 hit well as another near-Mainstream Rock top 10 hit for
the band, soon recognized as one of the hardest working outfits with a
must-see live show.
"Lovin' Every Minute Of It" arrived two years later reaching
#13 on The Billboard Top 200 Albums chart; the title-track hit #3 and
#9, respectively, on The Mainstream Rock chart and The Billboard Hot 100
and the single, "This Could Be The Night", also hit the top
10 of those same charts. The album included "Dangerous", a song
written by Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance,
which reached #23 on The Mainstream Rock chart.
In 1986 Loverboy recorded "Heaven In Your Eyes", for the soon
to be blockbuster movie "Top Gun"; the single hit #12 on The
Billboard Hot 100.
This was followed by the 1987 release of "Wildside", the band's
last studio album of the '80s; it reached #42 on The Billboard 200 led
by "Notorious", this single went top 40 on Billboard's chart
and peaked at #8 on The Mainstream Rock Tracks. However they realized
they were caught on the downhill slide of a music revolution, finding
themselves squeezed out of the market by more sophisticated elder statesmen
and hungrier young acts. After a final gig in London with Def
Leppard that summer, Loverboy took what they thought at the time would
be a brief hiatus.
Two years later Columbia issued "Big Ones", a cheezy best of
package with two new tracks "Ain't Looking For Love" and "Too
Hot", the latter of which reached the #27 slot on The Mainstream
Rock chart.
The group didn't appear together again until 1992 when they reunited to
join Bryan Adams, Bon
Jovi and other stars to help raise money for cancer-stricken friend
and fellow recording artist Brian 'Too Loud' McLeod. Outside interests
tho soon found the members again going their seperate ways.
Loverboy reunited in 1997 for "VI". Like many of their peers,
the powerhouse Canadian fivesome wasn't able to secure a contract with
a major label and decided to attach themselves to CMC International, an
imprint specializing in veteran rockers.
On December 2, 2000, the Rock world was saddened with the announced death
of Scott Smith following a tragic boating accident off the coast of California.
The band picked up the pieces the next spring when they hired Ken 'Spider'
Sinnaeve best known for playing bass with Tom
Cochrane's band Red Rider.
Loverboy celebrated 25 years together in 2005 by performing in selected
cities throughout the U.S. and Canada to mark this milestone and in November
2007 released their seventh album, "Just Getting Started".
Loverboy biography is an exclusive of 100xr.com
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