 With
a string of three multi-platinum albums, Loverboy was one of the
most successful mainstream hard rock groups of the early '80s.
Comprised of vocalist Mike
Reno, guitarist Paul
Dean, bassist Scott
Smith, keyboardist Doug
Johnson, and drummer Matthew Frenette, the band formed in Toronto, Canada, in 1980 and
immediately signed with CBS Records. Later that year, their Bruce
Fairbairn produced debut album appeared. Featuring the slick,
hard-rocking singles "Turn Me Loose" and "The Kid
Is Hot Tonite," the album went platinum in both Canada and
America.
Loverboy recorded the follow-up, Get Lucky, in 1981.
Driven by the anthemic "Working for the Weekend," the Fairbairn-produced
record was a major success in the U.S. and Canada, yet it failed
to gain an audience anywhere in Europe. Nevertheless, the band was
a staple on AOR stations across North America, as well as a
popular concert attraction. The band's good fortunes continued
with the 1983 album Keep It Up. Again, Loverboy worked with
Fairbairn,
who kept their melodic yet tough sound intact; the album featured
the hit single "Hot Girls In Love."
Loverboy's fortunes began to slip with 1985's Lovin' Every
Minute of It, which was produced by Tom
Allom (Judas
Priest). Allom
gave the band a harder edge, which didn't prove as commercially
successful as their past records; nevertheless, the band's fans
managed to make the album go platinum. Fairbairn
returned from working with Bon
Jovi to produce 1987's Wildside, yet the combination
didn't prove as potent as before. After an extensive two-year
tour, the band returned to Canada. In 1989, their greatest-hits
record, Big Ones, was released. The same year Reno
and Dean
announced plans to make solo records, which effectively put an end
to the group; a reunited lineup returned in 1998 with Live,
Loud and Loose. Tragedy struck in November, 2000, when Scott
Smith was swept overboard by a wave while on a boat near the
California coast and he drowned. — Stephen Thomas Erlewine
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