Loverboy

Turn Me Loose

Loverboy is a Canadian rock group formed in 1980 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Throughout the 1980s, the band accumulated numerous hit songs in Canada and the United States, making four multi-platinum albums, and selling millions of records. They are currently based in Vancouver, British Columbia but Reno and Dean originally met in Calgary, Alberta. After being rejected by many U.S. record labels, they signed with Columbia Records Canada and began recording their first album March 20, 1980 with Mike Reno on lead vocals, Paul Dean as the guitarist, Scott Smith as the bassist, Doug Johnson on keyboards, and Matt Frenette on drums. The band's hit singles, particularly "Lovin' Every Minute of It" have become arena rock staples, and are still heard on many classic rock radio stations across the United States and Canada.

The band got its start in Calgary, Alberta, Canada when Mike Reno (formerly of the band Moxy) was introduced to Paul Dean (formerly of the band Streetheart) at the Refinery Night Club. Dean was rehearsing a new band in a warehouse with a friend of Reno's, and Mike had stopped by to jam. Over the next few weeks, Reno and Dean wrote songs together on guitar and drums. Meanwhile, Doug Johnson, who was working with another band at the time, joined the band, and Loverboy was born.

Originally rejected by all the major record labels in the United States, the band signed with Columbia Records of Canada to help meet Canadian content laws. 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 début album. Over that summer, the record became a huge hit, with over 700,000 records sold in Canada alone. At that point, Columbia Records of the United States saw the success of the album, and decided to sign the band for a release in the U.S. When the album hit shelves there in November 1980, it slowly but surely sold over 2 million albums, and went Gold by May 1981. [1] The band went on a touring spree that year, putting on over 200 shows with bands like Cheap Trick, ZZ Top, Kansas and Def Leppard. The band's follow-up album, Get Lucky, was released that year as well in time for when the band was opening for Journey, containing hit tracks Working for the Weekend and It's Your Life. This led the band to receive an unprecedented five Juno Awards, Canada's highest award for music, in one year. That record that still stands today. The band would later receive an additional three Juno Awards, bringing their total to eight, which is the most received by a single group or individual. Loverboy released their third album, Keep it Up, in 1983, just prior to launching another extensive world tour that lasted eight months. The hit track, Hot Girls in Love, was met with great success in the United States and the band became known as one of the hardest working bands with a live show that was must-see. Lovin' Every Minute of it, the band's fourth album released in 1985, came with a hugely popular title track that became one of the biggest arena rock songs of the 1980s. In 1986, the band recorded Heaven In Your Eyes, a song that would be featured on a soon-to-be blockbuster movie Top Gun. They released the song as a single, and it reached #5 on the Billboard charts. The 1987 release of Wildside followed, which would be Loverboy's last album released in the decade that brought them their best success - the 80s.

After nine years with a full agenda with recording, touring, videos, interviews, and television appearances, the band decided to take a break in 1989 after releasing a compilation album, Big Ones. Three years passed, and in 1992, the band re-united to join fellow rockers Bryan Adams and Bon Jovi to help raise money for a friend and fellow recording artist Brian MacLeod of Chilliwack who was fighting cancer. 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. The band went on another live touring spree in Canada that year, before launching a 64-concert tour in the United States in 1993. [2]The band released a second compilation album in 1994, Loverboy Classics, with all the hit tracks that made the band famous, followed by a third album in the same year, Temperature's Rising, which was also a compilation. It took four years, but with all the extensive touring and performing, Loverboy Classics went Gold in 1998. Following the releases of Six and Super Hits in 1997, the band continued touring until November 30, 2000, when bassist Scott Smith was declared dead after being lost at sea. [3] The band went on to release their first 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 their late band member Scott Smith. Loverboy celebrated 25 years together in 2005, and began to perform in selected cities to commemorate this milestone. That tour continues today with live concerts scheduled well into August of 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. Currently, the line-up features "Spider" Sinnaeve (formerly the bassist of Frank Stallone) on bass, replacing Smith.

Discography

Loverboy (1980) #13 US
Get Lucky (1981) #7 US
Keep it Up (1983) #7 US
Lovin' Every Minute of it (1985) #13 US
Wildside (1987) #42 US
Big Ones (1989) #189 US
Loverboy Classics (1994)
Temperature's Rising (1994)
Super Hits (1997)
Six (1997)
Live, Loud and Loose (2001)

Singles
"Turn Me Loose" (1981) #35 US
"The Kid Is Hot Tonite" (1981) #55 US
"Working for the Weekend" (1981) #29 US
"When It's Over" (1982) #26 US
"Hot Girls in Love" (1983) #11 US
"Queen of the Broken Hearts" (1983) #34 US
"Lovin' Every Minute of it" (1985) #9 US
"Dangerous" (1985) #65 US
"This Could Be The Night" (1986) #10 US
"Lead A Double Life" (1986) #68 US
"Heaven In Your Eyes" (1986) #12 US
"Notorious" (1987) #38 US
"Too Hot" (1989) #84 US

Trivia
Loverboy's "Working for the Weekend" was featured in an extremely popular Saturday Night Live sketch involving Chris Farley and Patrick Swayze auditioning for Chippendales.
Working for the Weekend appeared in the 2002 videogame Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, playing on Rock station V-Rock.
In the South Park Episode s1e05, 'An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig', Mr. Garrison credits the song "Pig and Elephant DNA Just Won't Splice" to Loverboy, in an explanation to Kyle's farfetched plans.

In an episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force Mooninite character Err confuses Loverboy's Working for the Weekend for a Foreigner song only to be corrected by his companion, Ingnignokt, who then declares that the band "always sucked," only to be corrected by the human, Carl, who declares "Oh no, they do not!"

Loverboys' "Turn Me Loose" was used in the 2005 film "Crank" where Jason Stahams' character Chev Chelios brutally cuts off an adversaries hand before using the hand, still clutching a handgun, to kill the enemy.

External links
The Official Loverboy Website