Loverboy’s Mike Reno On The 40th Anniversary Of The “Loverboy” Album, Bryan Adams, Bob Rock, Canadian Music Greats & More

Loverboy’s 40+ year career began in Calgary when vocalist Mike Reno was introduced to local guitar legend Paul Dean. The duo were eventually joined by keyboardist Doug Johnson, drummer Matt Frenette and bassist Kenneth “Spider” Sinnaeve; Sinnaeve replaced late founding bassist Scott Smith in 2000. The band ultimately scored 4 multi-platinum albums, and yielded plenty of still-loved hits like “Working For The Weekend,” “Lovin’ Every Minute of It,” “This Could Be The Night,” “Hot Girls In Love,” “Heaven In Your Eyes,” “Turn Me Loose,” “When It’s Over,” and “Queen Of The Broken Hearts”; Reno was also the lead vocalist behind Footloose, Dream A Little Dream, and Iron Eagle II soundtrack songs.

COVID-19 pandemic aside, things have in no way slowed down for Loverboy in recent years. Its last studio album was 2014’s Unfinished Business, while subsequent singles have been released directly to fans via Loverboy’s website. Meanwhile, guitarist Paul Dean released a new studio album in 2018 and singer Mike Reno has been rumored to be releasing some long-ago-recorded solo material in the near future. All the while, Loverboy recently unveiled a special limited-edition vinyl edition of its classic self-titled album via Sony Music Entertainment Canada; yes, it is on red-colored vinyl.

Hits and legacy aside, what many people may not know about Loverboy is how instrumental many of the band’s early collaborators have been to the international rock scene. Loverboy’s second album Get Lucky featured a co-write with Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance years before “Summer Of ’69,” “Heaven” and “Run To You” hit MTV. Long-time producer Bruce Fairbairn helmed top-selling titles by Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, AC/DC and The Cranberries. Long-time engineer Bob Rock would go on to produce key, genre-defining albums for Metallica and Motley Crue. Long-time assistant engineer Mike Fraser worked on lots of the AC/DC catalog, besides titles for Aerosmith, Van Halen and Rush. Given that Loverboy’s first 4 studio albums all were multi-platinum sellers within North America — with 1987’s Wildside still selling gold in both the U.S. and Canada — it is fair to assume that Loverboy helped give those individuals a highly-visible platform in order to become long-term industry-leaders.

On January 28, 2021, I had the pleasure of interviewing Loverboy’s Mike Reno for a second time, as embedded below. We spoke about the 40th anniversary re-issue of the Loverboy album, Canadian music, life during COVID-19, future plans and plenty more. Additional info on all things Loverboy can be found via loverboyband.com, facebook.com/loverboyband and twitter.com/loverboyband.

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Tags: AC/DC, Bob Rock, Bryan Adams, Canada, Footloose, Loverboy, Mike Reno, Vancouver

About the Author

Darren Paltrowitz Darren Paltrowitz is a New York resident with over 20 years of entertainment industry experience. He began working around the music business as a teenager, interning for the manager of his then-favorite band Superdrag. Since then, he has worked with a wide array of artists including OK Go, They Might Be Giants, Mike Viola, Tracy Bonham, Loudness, Rachael Yamagata, and Amanda Palmer. Darren's writing has appeared in dozens of outlets including the New York Daily News, Inquisitr, The Daily Meal, The Hype Magazine, All Music Guide, Guitar World, TheStreet.com, Businessweek, Chicago Tribune, L.A. Times, and the Jewish Journal. Beyond being "Editor At Large" for The Hype Magazine, Darren is also the host of weekly "Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz" series, which airs on dozens on television and digital networks. He has also co-authored 2 published books, 2018's "Pocket Change: Your Happy Money" (Book Web Publishing) and 2019's "Good Advice From Professional Wrestling" (6623 Press), and co-hosts the world's only known podcast about David Lee Roth, "The DLR Cast."