REO Speedwagon

REO Speedwagon
	; REO Speedwagon (2010)
	General information
Genre (s)	Classic Rock , AOR , Southern Rock
founding	1968
Website	www.speedwagon.com
Current occupation
Keyboard , piano , synthesizer	Neil Doughty
Singing , guitar , piano	Kevin Cronin
Bass , vocals	Bruce Hall
Guitar, banjo , dobro , vocals	Dave Amato
Drums , percussion	Bryan Hitt
former members
Guitar , songwriter	Gary Richrath (1970–1989; † 2015)

REO Speedwagon is an American rock band that enjoyed particular success in the 1980s. Her two number 1 hits Keep On Loving You and Can't Fight This Feeling are best known . Other hits of the band were z. B. Ridin 'the Storm Out , Take It on the Run , Roll with the Changes and Time for Me to Fly . REO Speedwagon is one of the best known representatives of Adult Oriented Rock (AOR).

Origin of name

The name of the band is derived from the name of a truck made by the automobile manufacturer Reo, Reo Speed Wagon . The keyboardist Neal Doughty had suggested the band name; he had heard of the vehicle while studying engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign .

history

REO Speedwagon was founded in 1968 by Doughty and drummer Alan Gratzer. They played pieces by other bands in student bars. The line-up changed often until guitarist Gary Richrath became a permanent member of the band and proved to be a talented songwriter.

The band quickly became a well-known and popular stage act in their hometown of Champaign , Illinois, and the surrounding area. After bars and pubs became too small for the concerts, the members decided to become professional musicians. They recorded their first demo tapes and applied to record companies. Eventually, Epic Records signed the band.

In 1971 they recorded their first album REO Speedwagon . In addition to Doughty, Gratzer and Richrath, Gregg Philbin (bass) and Terry Luttrell (vocals) took part in the recording. 157 Riverside Avenue is the most famous track on the album and is still regularly played live today. In the meantime, the band's debut album, together with the album REO / TWO (1972), has been released on a double CD , but it is still a collector's item. The debut album is the only sound carrier of the band on which all compositions by all band members are shared come.

On the second album REO / TWO (1972) Kevin Cronin (guitar, vocals) played instead of Luttrell, but was then replaced by Mike Murphy himself. The third album was Ridin 'the Storm Out . Murphy stayed for two more albums until 1976, when Cronin returned to the band.

The 1977 live album You Get What You Play For was REO Speedwagon's first sales success.

In 1978 You Can Tune a Piano But You Can't Tuna Fish was released with Bruce Hall instead of Gregg Philbin. The band's first Top 40 hit was released from the album, Roll with the Changes . In 1981 the album Hi Infidelity rose to the top of the charts, which delivered several single hits. The next albums, Good Trouble and Wheels Are Turnin , also sold well.

However, in the late 1980s, its success began to wane. The line-up changed again more frequently. Alan Gratzer and Gary Richrath left the band in the mid-1990s. Especially Richrath's exit was a bitter loss for the band, as he wrote most of the songs alongside Kevin Cronin. While Richrath started a solo career with a band named after him, Gratzer retired from active music and opened a restaurant called "Mona Lisa" in Santa Barbara, California .

Even after the turn of the millennium, REO Speedwagon is still on tour, occasionally performing with other rock veterans such as Foreigner , Styx , Journey and Fleetwood Mac .

Almost ten years after the release of the last studio album, the band released a new album in spring 2007 called Find Your Own Way Home .

The band received a cameo in the US series Ozark (2017-) .

Discography

Studio albums

1971: REO Speedwagon
1972: REO / TWO
1973: Ridin 'the Storm Out
1974: Lost in a Dream
1975: This Time We Mean It
1976: REO
1978: You Can Tune a Piano, But You Can't Tuna Fish
1979: Nine Lives
1980: Hi Infidelity
1982: Good Trouble
1984: Wheels Are Turnin '
1987: Life as We Know It
1990: The Earth, a Small Man, His Dog and a Chicken
1996: Building the Bridge
2007: Find Your Own Way Home
2009: Not So Silent Night: Christmas with REO Speedwagon

literature

Irwin Stambler: The Encyclopedia Of Pop, Rock And Soul . 3rd revised edition. St. Martin's Press, New York City 1989, ISBN 0-312-02573-4 , pp. 562-565.