Loverboy

Origin: Calgary, Alberta (Canada)

LOVERBOY

Matt Frenette - Paul Dean - Scott Smith - Mike Reno - Doug Johnson

Discography:

Keep it up - 1983 (with lyrics)
Wildside - 1987 (with lyrics)

Notes:

- Vancouver's slick Pop Rockers LOVERBOY became one of the most successful Canadian acts in America with a string of multi platinum records and sell out arena tours. Mike Reno (real name Rynowski) also had a short stint in HAMMERSMITH but was better known for his tenure in MOXY. Guitarist Paul Dean and drummer Matt Frenette are both ex-STREETHEART. Dean had also sessioned on IAN LLOYD's 1980 album '3WC'. In earlier years Dean had also gone through the ranks of BRUTUS.

Immediately prior to the formation of LOVERBOY Frenette had been involved in the embryonic HEADPINS. Keyboard player Doug Johnson was previously with ALL THE RAGE IN PARIS. Their pedigree resulted in an instant deal from CBS Records. Paul Dean, upon his dismissal from STREETHEART in 1978, initially tried to form an act with Lou Blair but this union faltered. During late 1979 Reno auditioned as a potential drummer but it was as a vocalist that he secured his position. Bassist Scott Smith was pulled in from work with LISA DALBELLO. Once assembled the band put in an inaugural show opening for KISS at the Vancouver Coliseum. As an interesting aside, LOVERBOY's drummer Matt Frenette featured in the 1980 promotional video for the BRYAN ADAMS single 'Remember', although he did not perform on the original recording.

The band's debut Bruce Fairbairn produced album, issued in 1981, shot to platinum status in America with the momentum of the radio hits 'Turn Me Loose' and 'This Kid Is Hot Tonite'. Not willing to break the formula the band cut the follow up 'Get Lucky' with Fairbairn once again. The launch single 'Working For The Weekend' gave the band a bigger hit and 'Get Lucky' soon attained double platinum sales. In 1982 LOVERBOY broke all records by receiving an unprecedented 6 Juno awards for musical achievement.

1983's 'Keep It Up' did just that with record sales still on the climb and 'Hot Girls In Love' proving to be their biggest single to date. LOVERBOY also put in their first tour of Japan. Reno performed a duet with HEART's ANN WILSON 'Almost Paradise' issued on the 'Footloose' soundtrack album in 1984.

1985's Tom Allom produced 'Lovin' Every Minute Of It' found BLACK N' BLUE's Jaime St. James and Tommy Thayer sharing backing vocals with MARK LAFRANCE. The band also pulled in outside songwriters in the form of BRYAN ADAMS, Jim Vallance and JOURNEY's JONATHON CAIN. LOVERBOY noticably toughened up their sound for this release (Allom was better known for working with JUDAS PRIEST) and although the Americans snapped up a million copies it did not reach the heady heights of previous records. Nevertheless, Columbia were happy to receive their first ever Crystal Globe award for a Canadian act in recognition of 5 million LOVERBOY album sales outside of Canada.

Meantime the post HANOI ROCKS act CHERRY BOMBZ released their version of 'Hot Girls In Love' during 1986.

Fairbairn, flushed with multi platinum success with BON JOVI, was back at the helm for 1987's 'Wildside' which saw song contributions from JON BON JOVI, RICHIE SAMBORA and Alfie Zappacosta. Strangely, despite scoring another big hit with 'Notorious' the album failed to sell and did not even break into the American top 40. Following mammoth touring commitments which saw the band on the road for nearly two years, including European dates with DEF LEPPARD, LOVERBOY disbanded in mid 1988. Tracks recorded with Bob Rock for a projected further album remained in the can.

PAUL DEAN issued a solo album 'Hardcore' in 1989. The album included Frenette on drums. The skinsman also toured with KIM MITCHELL, appearing on his 'I Am A Wild Party' record. CBS also issued the 'Big Ones' compilation which included three cuts from the Bob Rock sessions.

Frenette undertook touring work in America with BRYAN ADAMS prior to joining TOM COCHRANE's band for his 'Mad, Mad World' album and tour. Frenette and Dean also both rejoined STREETHEART for nostalgic Canadian shows.

1992 the Canadian Rock industry pulled together for a cancer benefit gig in honour of HEADPINS / CHILLIWACK musician Brian McLeod. In an unannounced surprise performance LOVERBOY reunited for the show. Such was the reaction the band bowed to a tour of Canada the year after swiftly followed by American dates. -

(http://www.rockdetector.com/artist/canada/alberta/calgary/loverboy)



- The band's roots stem back to 1979 when guitarist Paul Dean, originally from Calgary, and Edmonton-native drummer Matt Frennette left Streetheart and moved to the west coast. After a brief stint with a band Brian MacLeod was putting together as a sideline to Chilliwack (The Headpins) - Frennette's path crossed with Dean's again, when they met up with singer Mike Reno (real name Mike Rynoski) - ex Moxy singer, in Vancouver - and Loverboy was born.

Along with Doug Johnson on keyboards (fresh off a stint with Fosterchild) and bassist Scott Smith they began doing the BC circuit and were signed to Columbia Records later that year. They released their self-titled debut in the summer of 1980. The timing couldn't have been better for a simple yet slick approach to radio-friendly pop to have been on the scene. Dismissed by some as soft-core punk, others blasted them for being nothing more than teeny-bopper pleasers dressed in tight leather pants. Like them or not, if you lived in Canada in the '80's, you knew Loverboy. Backed by the singles "The Kid Is Hot Tonight" (co-written by Headpins' drummer Bernie Aubin) and "Turn Me Loose", and the "much more than filler" "Lady of the '80's" and"DOA", the album quickly went gold - then double platinum.

GET LUCKY came out a year later and further cemented their name in the foundations of Canadian pop. "Working For The Weekend", "Lucky Ones" and "Jump" showed the sheer force of Dean's fret-work while tight ballads like "When It's Over" demonstrated the group's ability to shift gears and churn out well-written ballads. The combination quickly made it two gold records in a row. By this time Loverboy was being heard coast to coast and was getting some exposure in the US as well. Regional gigs had long since been turned in for national tours.

KEEP IT UP hit the shelves in '83. Backed by the singles "Queen Of The Broken Hearts" and "Hot Girls In Love", it had a solid core of well-written tracks that again gave Loverboy gold. More constant touring saw them in Europe and Japan as well as every corner of North America. By now the group's brand of radio punk-pop was well-known and well-received by the masses, but still didn't make much of an impression on the critics.

LOVIN' EVERY MINUTE OF IT was released in early '85 and contained some of the group's heaviest riffs. Backed by the title track written by Mutt Lange (best known world-wide as the producer of such platinum successes as AC/DC's BACK IN BLACK and Def Leppard's HYSTERIA, but simply known in Canada as the lucky bastard that snagged Shania), the record also drove home the heavier than usual message with "Steal The Thunder". Their maturity in the studio shone with "This Could Be The Night". Co-written by Johnathon Cain of Journey, it was their oblligatory radio I love you-the sky is blue ballad. "Dangerous", written by Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance was the third single released. Though the band was still touring constantly and the album was their fourth straight gold record, the public's perception of them was beginning to change. In short, Loverboy's audience was outgrowing them.

The group took some time off after the subsequent world tour and by the release of WILDSIDE in 1987, 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. Behind the controls for the fifth straight time was Bruce Fairbairn. Supported by the hit "Notorious" co-written by Richie Sambora and Jon Bon Jovi, "Walkin' On Fire" and "Don't Keep Me in The Dark", the record was pushed gold. After a final gig in London with Def Leppard that summer, Loverboy took what they thought at the time would be a brief hiatus.

The group didn't appear together again until 1989 when they reunited for a Brian "Too Loud" MacLeod benefit show in BC. The reception given them, plus CBS' release of BIG ONES, a cheezy best of package with two new tracks, "Too Hot" and "Ain't Looking For Love", prompted them to hit the road again and toured most of western Canada.

Outside interests tho soon found the members again going their seperate ways. The time off afforded Dean the opportunity to cut his first solo record, HARDCORE. Backed by the Paul Stanley/Bruce Kulick "Sword and Stone" and the remake of Streetheart's "Action", it too went gold.Reno went into the studios as well at the beginning of the decade. After recording a number of tracks in LA with a plethora of guest artists which included David Foster, the album was shelved at the last minute by industry politics.

1995 saw Dean release his second solo effort MACHINE, the same year that Reno put out his first solo record, JUST IF I. Except for the occasional benefit show, Loverboy wouldn't resurface until '96, with the release of VI. Johnson left the group midway and was replaced by Richie Sera, who'd worked before with Kim Mitchell, Tom Cochrane and Sue Medley. Re-tooled and ready for a second run at the top, the new sound showed maturity in the writing, adding new dimensions with a strong contingent of cellos in "Secrets", and acoustics with "Maybe Someday". "Tortured" and "Big Picture" were also noteable cuts, as was "Hair Of The Dog", and a reworking of "Bitch You" from Dean's solo lp, MACHINE.

Originally only available at the band's concerts and thru a 1-800 number, VI is now available internationally in the stores. The group started out doing fairs and small gigs but worked their way up in support of the new record opening in arenas for the likes of ZZ Top. Dean released his third solo record in '97, with BLACKSTONE, which featured cameos by, among others, Reno. Reno's original solo attempt found its way on to the shelves in '03 on an independent label when RENOVATION was released.

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 Spider Sinnaeve, who Dean and Frennette had both played with in Streetheart. -

(http://www.canadianbands.com/Loverboy.html)



- Loverboy is a Canadian rock band formed in 1979 in Calgary, Alberta. Loverboy's hit singles, particularly "Turn Me Loose" and "Working for the Weekend", have become arena rock staples and are still heard on many classic rock and classic hits radio stations across Canada. The band is based in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Throughout the 1980s, Loverboy accumulated numerous hit songs in Canada and the United States, earning four multi-platinum albums and selling millions of records. After being rejected by many American record labels, they signed with Columbia/CBS Records Canada and began recording their first album on March 20, 1980. Loverboy's founding members were lead singer Mike Reno, guitarist Paul Dean, keyboardist Doug Johnson, bassist Scott Smith, and drummer Matt Frenette.


History
1979–1983

It has been stated by Reno that their name was chosen due to a dream by Paul Dean. He had come up with the name after spending the previous night with some of the bandmates, including Reno and their girlfriends, before going to the movies. The girlfriends were browsing through fashion magazines, where the guys in the band saw a Cover Girl advertisement. Cover Girl became Cover Boy, and then became Loverboy in Dean's dream later that night. After being told by Dean about the dream the next morning, Reno agreed to try it out and it stuck. The group made its live debut opening for Kiss at Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, B.C. on November 19, 1979.

Originally rejected by all the major record labels in the United States, the band signed with Columbia Records of Canada, and on March 20, 1980, Loverboy went into the studio with producer Bruce Fairbairn and engineer Bob Rock to record what would be their self-titled debut album.

Over that summer, the record became a huge hit with eventually over 1,000,000 records sold in Canada alone. The album made its American debut in November 1980, and would go on to sell over two million copies in the USA alone. The band went on a touring spree that year putting on over 200 shows with bands such as Cheap Trick, ZZ Top, Kansas, and Def Leppard. Their debut single, "Turn Me Loose", went on to hit No. 7 on the Canadian charts and No. 35 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in early 1981.

The band's follow-up album, Get Lucky, released in October 1981 when they were opening for Journey, included the hit tracks "Working for the Weekend" and "When It's Over". It became their best selling album in the U.S., reaching No. 7 on the Billboard album charts and selling over four million copies. In the same year Loverboy received six Juno Awards (Canada's highest award for music) in one year, a record that still stands today.

Loverboy released their third album, Keep It Up, in November 1983. Its first single "Hot Girls in Love" became their most successful to that date, reaching No.11 on the U.S. charts. The video for the song as well as for the follow-up single "Queen of the Broken Hearts" were hugely popular on MTV, and the band embarked on its first tour as headliners.


1984–1989
In 1984, Loverboy recorded the United States Team theme for the 1984 Summer Olympics, "Nothing's Gonna Stop You Now". The song originally appeared on The Official Music of the 1984 Games but not on any of their albums or compilations to date. They would often play it on tour mixing it in during the performance of "Queen of the Broken Hearts".

Also in 1984, Loverboy recorded a song called "Destruction" which appeared on the 1984 soundtrack of a re-edited version of the film Metropolis (1927).

Lovin' Every Minute of It, the band's fourth album, and the first not produced by Fairbairn (it was produced by Tom Allom, best known for producing Judas Priest several years later) was released in August 1985, with the title single written by Mutt Lange and "This Could Be the Night" co-written by Journey's Jonathan Cain becoming their first and second U.S. Billboard top 10 hits respectively.

In 1986, the band recorded "Heaven in Your Eyes", a song featured in the movie Top Gun, which peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard charts. However, Doug Johnson refused to appear in the video as he felt that the film glorified war, which Doug was highly against.

The release of Wildside, their fifth album, followed in September 1987. While the band scored a minor hit with "Notorious", co-written by Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora, the album sold relatively poorly and the band broke up in 1988 due to tensions between Dean and Reno.

Dean released a solo album, Hardcore, in May 1989 and a Loverboy greatest-hits album, Big Ones, was released later that same year, in October, to fulfill Loverboy's obligation to Columbia Records. The group briefly reunited in late 1989 to tour to promote it, but broke up again at the tour's conclusion.


1991–2004; death of Scott Smith
On October 6, 1991 the band reunited again to join fellow rockers Bryan Adams, Colin James, Chrissy Steele and Bill Henderson of Chilliwack at a benefit show at Vancouver's 86 Street Music Hall to raise over $50,000 for Henderson's former bandmate, Brian MacLeod, who was fighting cancer and undergoing treatment at a Houston medical clinic. The band reportedly recalled that the concert was the most fun that they had had in years and decided that they wanted to do it again. They went on another live touring spree in Canada the following year before launching a 64-concert tour in the United States in 1993.

The band's record label released their second and third compilation albums, Loverboy Classics and Temperature's Rising, in 1994. Loverboy Classics went Gold by 1998, coinciding with another American tour. Following the releases of Six and Super Hits in 1997, the band continued touring until November 30, 2000, when bassist Scott Smith died in a boating accident.

The band went on to release a live album, Live, Loud and Loose, in 2001, which consisted of refurbished early live concert recordings from the band's intense touring years from 1982 to 1986. 2001 also brought another round of touring, this time dedicated to Scott Smith. Ken "Spider" Sinnaeve, a former member of The Guess Who, Red Rider and Dean and Frenette's pre-Loverboy band Streetheart, joined the band on bass prior to the tour.


2005–present
Loverboy celebrated 25 years together in 2005 and began to perform in selected cities to commemorate this milestone. That tour continued with live concerts scheduled well into August 2006. Also in 2005, Loverboy was one of the featured bands on the American version of Hit Me, Baby, One More Time. They performed "Working for the Weekend" and a cover version of "Hero" by Enrique Iglesias on the show.

In 2006, twenty-five years after its initial release, Get Lucky was remastered and re-released with several previously unreleased songs, including the original demo of "Working for the Weekend".

In a video interview from March 2007, Mike Reno confirmed that the band finished recording a new studio album released in 2007. Titled Just Getting Started, it was released in October, with a clip of the first single "The One That Got Away" available on the band's MySpace page. The band continues to tour throughout Canada and the United States.

The band was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame during the 2009 Juno Awards.

On February 21, 2010, the band performed at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics awards ceremony.

In June 2012, the band announced their album Rock 'n' Roll Revival would be released by Frontiers Records. The band was on tour with Journey and Pat Benatar/Neil Giraldo from July 24 to November 16, 2012. They finished up 2012 on the same tour when Night Ranger took up the reins to replace Benatar.

2013 saw Loverboy tour on and off for at least a few dates during every month, except for the month of March.

While continuing to tour in 2014, it was announced on the official Loverboy home page on June 19, 2014 that the band's newest album of all-original material, Unfinished Business, was expected to be released on July 15, 2014. The first single was already available for purchase on iTunes and the title of this song was "Countin' the Nights". The band toured during that summer, including at least two free shows.

Loverboy appeared at the Rockingham Festival 2017, held at Nottingham Trent University, UK, between 20 and 22 October 2017. The band headlined on Sunday 22 October 2017.


Media references

In 1990, Loverboy's "Working for the Weekend" was featured in an extremely popular Saturday Night Live sketch involving Chris Farley and Patrick Swayze auditioning to be Chippendales dancers. The song was also featured in the 2002 video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, playing on Rock station V-Rock, as well as the video games Saints Row 2, and Shaun White Snowboarding. It is also featured in the 2001 comedy film Zoolander. The song was also featured, in full, at the end of the Rob Zombie film The Haunted World of El Superbeasto. It was used as the background music to a Diet Pepsi television commercial in which a man is asked what else he would like to experience that is youthful, and he chooses his old van from the 1980s. The song also made a brief appearance in the movie Click. The song was even featured in the third episode of "Regular Show", Caffeinated Concert Tickets as well as the film Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. The song was also used in a Toyota commercial featuring NASCAR driver Kyle Busch driving a 2012 Toyota Camry while singing to the song.

In 1995, Elf Power's record Vainly Clutching at Phantom Limbs featured a song named "Loverboy's Demise" which describes a Loverboy concert.

Several of their songs were featured in the 2001 cult comedy Wet Hot American Summer, which takes place in August 1981. In 2006, "Turn Me Loose" was featured in the action movie Crank starring Jason Statham.

An early episode of South Park ("An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig") made multiple references to a fictional Loverboy song, "Pig and Elephant DNA Just Won't Splice."

In Aqua Teen Hunger Force's episode Revenge of the Mooninites, Err uses the "Foreigner belt" to "Turn Master Shake Loose" to "Hot Girls in Love" because he's "Working for the Weekend". When it didn't work, it was revealed that "those are Loverboy songs, and Loverboy has always sucked." (although Carl said that he saw them at the Madison Square Garden in 1985 and they "kicked ass".)

"The Kid is Hot Tonight" is featured on the soundtrack of MLB 2K9 by 2K Sports and was included in the closing scenes of an episode of cartoon "American Dad," titled "Office Spaceman," Season 3, Episode 56, May 4, 2008, Production Code 3AJN13, where character Roger posed for a Playgirl magazine photo shoot.

In an episode of Drew Carey's Green Screen Show, Brad Sherwood remarks to a character called 'Hover-boy', "I loved your album Get Lucky!"

In the 2006 independent film A Dog's Breakfast, there is a Loverboy poster on the childhood bedroom wall of Marilyn (played by Kate Hewlett).

In the 15th episode of season 5 on 30 Rock, "It's Never too Late for Now," Scott Adsit's character Pete Hornberger tells Frank Rossitano he was in the band Loverboy for 3 months before leaving the band for a college scholarship in "TV Budgeting." The episode includes a brief clip in which Adsit has been digitally inserted into the music video for the song.

In the 9th episode of 5th season of Scrubs, Todd imitates Mike Reno's performance of "Working for the Weekend" while attending the air-band 'Cool Cats' audition in the beginning of the episode.

In November 2013, Will Ferrell, as the character Ron Burgundy, performed Loverboy's "Working for the Weekend" on Conan calling it the campaign song for embattled Toronto mayor Rob Ford.

In 2012, a humorous commercial for Mr. Lube oil change shops featured the song "Turn Me Loose"

In the second-season episode of Will & Grace "Secrets and Lays", Grace meets up with a high school boyfriend named Campbell. When he says to Karen that he and Grace saw Loverboy in concert together, Karen's response was to comment that they were both geeks in high school.

In 2016, the band appeared in a commercial for National Car Rental featuring the song "Lovin' Every Minute of It." -

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loverboy)




- One of the most popular North American rock bands of the 1980s, Loverboy scored a string of multi-platinum albums and hit singles with their canny blend of pop hooks and polished but energetic arena rock. Loverboy were formed in 1979 by vocalist Mike Reno and guitarist Paul Dean; both were veterans of Western Canada's rock scene (Reno had worked with the band Moxy, while Dean toured and recorded with Scrubbaloe Caine and Streetheart), and Dean was rehearsing with a new band in Calgary, Alberta. One of the musicians working with Dean invited Reno to stop by and jam with the group, and Reno quickly concluded he'd found the singer he'd been looking for. The two began writing songs together, and with the addition of Jim Clench on bass, Matt Frenette on drums, and Doug Johnson on keyboards, Reno and Dean's new band became Loverboy. After a few initial gigs (including a show opening for Kiss in Vancouver), Paul Clench left Loverboy, and Scott Smith became their new bassist, completing the band's definitive lineup.

Loverboy's initial demos attracted no offers from American record labels, but Columbia's Canadian branch signed them, and the group shortly went into the studio with producer Bruce Fairbairn and engineer Bob Rock. The result was Loverboy's self-titled debut, which was an immediate hit in Canada, selling over 700,000 copies in a matter of months. Columbia then signed Loverboy for the United States as well, and on the strength of hit singles like "The Kid Is Hot Tonight" and "Turn Me Loose," the album climbed the charts in America while the group toured hard in support. Released in 1981, Get Lucky, also produced by Fairbairn, was even more successful, spawning the band's signature tune "Working for the Weekend" and rising to the Top Ten of the Billboard album charts. Get Lucky also won an unprecedented six Juno Awards, the Canadian music industry's highest honor. Issued in 1983, Keep It Up maintained the multi-platinum success of Loverboy's previous albums, and the band launched an eight-month world tour in support.

In 1984, Reno took time out from the band's busy road schedule to record a duet with Ann Wilson of Heart, "Almost Paradise," for the soundtrack to the film Footloose; it became a major hit, rising to number seven on the Billboard singles charts. For their fourth album, 1985's Lovin' Every Minute of It, Loverboy aimed for a harder sound with the help of producer Tom Allom, best known for his work with Judas Priest. However, while the album still fared well, it didn't sell as well as the first three LPs, and 1987's Wildside, which reunited the band with Fairbairn, was their first album not to go platinum. With sales down and Reno and Dean experiencing creative differences, Loverboy quietly broke up in 1988. Reno and Dean both released solo albums, and the band staged a short reunion tour in support of a 1989 greatest-hits album, Big Ones.

In 1991, Brian MacLeod of the venerable Canadian band Chilliwack was diagnosed with cancer, and Bryan Adams and Bon Jovi staged a benefit concert to help with his medical expenses. Loverboy, who had worked with both acts in the past, reunited to join the bill, and enjoyed the experience so much that they booked full tours for both the United States and Canada in 1992 and 1993. Changing tastes stalled the band's recording career during this period (Reno has told more than one reporter, "Nirvana killed my career"), but in 1997, Loverboy returned to the studio to record VI, their first studio effort in ten years, and the band continued to tour periodically until November 30, 2000, when Scott Smith died as the result of a boating accident. In 2001, the band launched a tour dedicated to Smith, with new member Ken "Spider" Sinnaeve (formerly with Tom Cochrane, Red Rider, and Streetheart) joining in on bass.

The same year, the band released Live, Loud & Loose, a collection of concert recordings taped between 1982 and 1986. A 25th anniversary tour was staged in 2005, and in 2007, Loverboy issued their seventh studio album, Just Getting Started. Loverboy were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2009, and in 2012 the band reunited with engineer Bob Rock to record a pair of new songs, "Heartbreaker" and "No Tomorrow." These two tracks, along with a third new tune, were featured on the album Rock ‘n' Roll Revival, which combined the new numbers with fresh studio recordings of nine Loverboy favorites. -

(https://www.allmusic.com/artist/loverboy-mn0000835585/biography)