REO Speedwagon is an American rock band that grew in popularity in the Midwestern United States during the 1970s and peaked in the early 1980s. REO Speedwagon hits include "Keep On Loving You" and "Can't Fight This Feeling".
Both songs are power ballads, the former being prototypical of the genre and appearing on the group's most commercially successful album, Hi Infidelity, which also included the hit "Take It on the Run," a song that peaked at number five on the U.S. charts. REO Speedwagon took its name from the REO Speed Wagon, a flatbed truck and fire engine, manufactured by the REO Motor Car Company. ("R.E.O." are initials of the company's founder, Ransom Eli Olds, who also founded Oldsmobile, once a division of General Motors.) REO Speedwagon was formed by students attending the University of Illinois in Champaign, Illinois, in the fall of 1967 to play cover songs in campus bars. The first line up consisted of Alan Gratzer on drums and vocals, Neal Doughty on keyboards, Joe Matt on guitar and vocals, and Mike Blair on bass and vocals. In the spring of 1968, Terry Luttrell became lead singer, and Bob Crownover and Gregg Philbin replaced Matt and Blair. Joe McCabe played sax at this time until moving to SIU. Crownover played guitar for the group until the summer of 1969 when Bill Fiorio replaced him. Fiorio then departed in late 1969, eventually assuming the name Duke Tumatoe, and went on to form the All Star Frogs. Another guitarist, Steve Scorfina, came aboard briefly, and was replaced by Gary Richrath in late 1970.
Discography
Albums
Studio albums
* 1971 - R.E.O. Speedwagon
* 1972 - R.E.O./T.W.O.
* 1973 - Ridin' the Storm Out
* 1974 - Lost in a Dream
* 1975 - This Time We Mean It
* 1976 - R.E.O.
* 1978 - You Can Tune a Piano but You Can't Tuna Fish
* 1979 - Nine Lives
* 1980 - Hi Infidelity
* 1982 - Good Trouble
* 1984 - Wheels Are Turnin
* 1987 - Life As We Know It
* 1990 - The Earth, a Small Man, His Dog and a Chicken
* 1996 - Building the Bridge
* 2007 - Find Your Own Way Home
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