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gigged around western Canada with friends and seriously considered being the lead
singer for his own band. He woke up one morning and realized it wasn't really what
he wanted and called an agent friend to supply the name of a singer looking for
work. This turned up the name Mike Rynoski (later changed his name to Reno), who
was back in Vancouver after a two-year stint in Toronto with Moxy. Rynoski actually
auditioned to be drummer, but Dean preferred his singing talents, felt comfortable
co-writing with him, and recruited him. Classically-trained keyboardist Johnson
came on board, former Streetheart drummer Frenette jumped in, and DalBello bassist
Smith came into the fold. Loverboy was born, introduced to manager Bruce Allen by
mutual friend Lou Blair, and shortly thereafter got the opening gig for Kiss at the
Vancouver Coliseum.
Thus began the career in 1979 of one of Canada's most internationally successful
bands to date. Selling more than 10 million copies of their first three albums by
1984 and gigging around North America with the likes of Kiss, Bob Seger, Cheap
Trick, Prism, Kansas, Point Blank, Z.Z. Top, and Journey, their brand of slickly-
packaged, meticulously produced pop-rock appealed to a young, predominantly female
audience. In 1983 they made attempts to crack the otherwise uncaring overseas
market with an appearance on Germany's enormously popular "Rockpalast" TV program,
viewed by 20 million viewers, and guesting with Tom Petty, Chicago, A Flock Of
Seagulls, and Gary Moore. A tour of Japan but the two trips failed to make the dent
they'd been hoping for.
After 1983's 'Keep It Up', the band took a short break from the constant life on
the road and came back with 'Lovin' Every Minute Of It'. This was the first of
their two harder-edged, tougher sounding albums that weren't as popular with the
fans as their first three. Sales of these two records failed to live up to previous
figures and in 1989 the band decided to part company, just in time for Columbia to
release the first of two best-of compilations, called 'Big Ones'.
Dean and Reno recorded and released solo efforts; Smith became a dee-jay at CFOX in
Vancouver and was a booking agent for the Sam Feldman Agency; Johnson took to
writing TV and radio soundtracks; Frenette joined forces with Tom Cochrane and also
helped reform Streetheart in 1996.
In 1995 Loverboy reformed to begin recording new material and touring again.
Loverboy released their sixth album titled, simply 'VI' (six), independently -
their first studio release of all new songs in 11 years.
'VI' spawned four singles including "Big Picture", "Waiting For the Night" and the
current ballad "Secrets". The band would tour relentlessly throughout 1998 and
1999.
Tragedy struck the revived band in late November 2000 when bassist Scott Smith was
swept overboard by an eight-metre wave and presumed drowned during an outting on
his boat along the California coast. Despite intense searches by the US Coast
Guard, his body has never been found.
Singles
1980 The Kid Is Hot Tonight (CBS)
1980 Turn Me Loose (CBS)
1998 Secrets
Albums/CDs
1980 Loverboy (Columbia)
Video clips
1980 The Kid Is Hot Tonight
1980 Turn Me Loose
Others/Compilations
1984 "Almost Paradise" on 'Footloose (O.S.T.) (CBS) [Mike Reno duets with Ann
Wilson (Heart) on movie soundtrack]
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Official Loverboy Site
Loverboy Fan Site
Streetheart
CanconRox Bio
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LOVERBOY