REO Speedwagon’s history begins when Neal Doughty (keyboards), Alan Gratzer (drums) along with Joe Matt (guitar) and Mike Blair (bass) decided to create their own band, in 1967, in Champaign, Illinois. They used to play covers in university parties, bars e.t.c. The band’s line up changed several times until the arrival of guitarist Gary Richrath in 1970, who played a major role to the band’s success.
Their first album was “R.E.O. Speedwagon” which came out in 1971, with Terry Luttrell (vocals) and Gregg Philbin (bass), next to Doughty, Gratzer and Luttrell. The next two albums were recorded with different vocalists. “R.E.O./T.W.O. in late 1972 included Kevin Cronin, while “Ridin’ the Storm Out” that came out a year later, featured Mike Murphy. Murphy took part in the next two albums, “Lost in a Dream” in October of 1974 and “This Time We Mean It” that was released in 1975. Cronin returned for the band’s sixth album named “R.E.O.”, which was released the next summer. REO’s first live album was “Live: You Get What You Play For”, that came out in early 1977, becoming platinum later.
Bruce Hall took Philbin’s place and the band’s next album “You Can Tune a Piano, but You Can't Tuna Fish” came out in March of 1978. It became two times platinum and was followed by the more hard rock album “Nine Lives” in the summer of 1979. REO’s next album “Hi Infidelity” was their first big success (it is their most successful album, which received the Diamond Award in 2017, surpassing the 10 million sales mark). It reached the top of the USA album chart and it is characterized by its softer sound with a lot of pop-oriented elements. It contains the hits “Keep On Loving You”, which topped the US chart and “Take It on the Run”. The successful albums continued with “Good Trouble” of 1982, which includes the song “Keep the Fire Burnin’” and with “Wheels Are Turnin’” two years later, that contains the top hit “Can’t Fight This Feeling”, one of their signature songs. REO followed a commercially successful tour in 1985 and their last album in 80’s was “Life as We Know It”, that was released in February of 1987.
In 1988, Gratzer retired while Richrath left the band later, because of his continuously conflicts with Cronin. The remaining members tried to keep a stable formation after some additions but after the failure of their next album “The Earth, a Small Man, His Dog and a Chicken”, the band dissolved during the 90’s. They returned in a few live appearances with Styx between 2000-2003 and they released two more albums until 2009. In the following years, REO continued touring and performing live in various live shows and events, most times with other rock bands such as Chicago, Def Leppard e.t.c.
REO Speedwagon
REO Speedwagon
REO Speedwagon
REO Speedwagon