LOVERBOY
by: Annette Higby / BackStage360
Image – Brian Tierney / BackStage360
Loverboy kicked off the first night of the 2012 Journey/Pat Benatar/Loverboy concert with their hard-hitting lyrics at the San Manuel Amphitheater in hot San Bernardino, California, beginning with their hit “Queen of the Broken Hearts”. The crowd joined in the second song, “Loving Every Minute of It”, followed by “The Kid is Hot Tonight”, their first song on the radio. This was followed by “When It’s Over” with the fans joining in again and then “Hot Girls in Love”, dedicated to all the girls at the show.
Image – Brian Tierney / BackStage360
The band members left the stage and came back for their encore one at a time to continue with their platinum 1982 hit “Turn Me Loose”. It started out with a drum solo by Matt Frenette, and then Doug Johnson joined in with the keys, followed by Ken “Spider” Sinnaeve on the bass guitar and Paul Dean on the lead guitar. Finally, Mike Reno came out singing. Their portion of the concert ended with a strong finish with another platinum hit from 1981, “Working for the Weekend”, both of which were obviously and enthusiastically loved by the crowd. With over 30 years of platinum hits under their belt, it was probably a challenge to figure out which of their great hits would be performed when they only had time to play seven songs.
Image – Brian Tierney / BackStage360
Loverboy is releasing their newest album on August 14, 2012, entitled “Rock ‘N’ Roll Revival” via Frontier Records. This album, produced in collaboration with their original producer/engineer, Bob Rock, will include nine newly re-recorded hits and three new original songs, including “Heartbreaker”, “No Tomorrow”, and “Rock ‘N’ Roll Revival”, all of which reflect their classic and very popular rock style.
The band members include Mike Reno, lead vocals; Paul Dean on lead guitar; Ken “Spider” Sinnaeve on bass guitar; Doug Johnson on the keyboard; and Matt Frenette on the drums.
The 2012 Summer Tour with Journey and Pat Benatar/Neil Giraldo will continue through December of this year as more than sixty shows are scheduled all across the country and up into Canada. Loverboy has now come full circle with Journey, as Loverboy began touring with Journey when Loverboy released their album “Get Lucky” thirty years ago.
Loverboy, founded by veteran rockers Mike Reno and Paul Dean and originally hailing from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, has had a string of platinum and gold albums. Their first album was released by Columbia Records Canada in March, 1980, and promptly sold more than 700,000 records. Seeing this, Columbia US decided to launch this album in the United States in November, 1980, which went gold by April, 1981. They were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2009. Bob Rock was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2007.
In 1982, Loverboy won six Juno awards, Canada’s highest music award. This record still stands today. In 1983, the band won the exclusive Crystal Glove Award, celebrating the sale of over five million albums outside their native country of Canada.
Loverboy has sold more than 10 million albums and earned multi-platinum plaques for albums such as their self-titled debut LP “Loverboy” released in 1980; “Get Lucky” released in 1981; “Keep It Up” released in 1983; and “Loving Every Minute of It” released in 1985. The string of hits include the band’s smash anthem “Working for the Weekend” as well as “Hot Girls In Love”, “Turn Me Loose” and “Loving Every Minute of It”. They were the darlings of MTV, being one of the first bands featured on the music channel in the early 1980’s. Loverboy’s continued pop culture relevance is alive and well in 2012, with recent references to the band in episodes of NBC’s hit show “30 Rock” and Comedy Network’s popular “Regular Show”.