Billboard is a part of Penske Media Corporation. "AOR poll part 2: Which lead singer's voice do you like best? The first line of "Papa Was A Rollin' Stone" is "It was the 3rd of September," which is the day lead singer Dennis Edwards' father died. It shows how my manager calls me and asks if Im willing to launder money through our merchandise company for an extra hundred thousand dollars. Get TMZ breaking news sent right to your browser! If I can inspire any young songwriter with anything that Im saying today, thats probably the most important thing that Ive learned over the years. How a gym teacher, a janitor, and a junkie became part of some very famous band names. For the good ones, the inspiration is usually a pretty big piece of the song. Then on the day that Eric and I were supposed to co-write, I literally woke up that morning and I felt like I had the flu. "I had my eyes closed the whole time picturing my brother. My biggest successes are songs that I write myself. Cronin, like the rest of the band, earned a reputation as a party animal. He left education after graduating from Chicagos Brother Rice High School, having already become convinced that his future lay in music, not business. Cronin: The first album that I made with them was an album called R.E.O./T.W.O., which was our second album. He was 65. Well, then you're going to love this blog post! He guards that guitar with his life., The COVID lockdowns havent exactly been pleasant, but through adversity, comes opportunity, and in Cronins case, hes relished the chance to reconnect with his family. The songs for that album had a certain cohesive nature to them. Cronin, 68, spoke to EW by phone about how his band ended up in the show, what it was like being on set, and also revealed one of the weirdest gigs REO Speedwagon ever played. REO Speedwagon's Kevin Cronin -- Heard It From My Son Bleeps Her document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. As time went on, and my buddy broke up with her, we still remained friends. But my friend, Sammy Hagar, his brand name is Sammy Hagar. On Friday, as the trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin for George Floyd's murder continued in Minneapolis, REO lead singer Kevin Cronin joined LaTonya and others for a vigil honoring George, 46, at The Community of Faith Church in Houston, where Cronin and LaTonya stood on stage and sang the song together. For our episode, they had me on stage delivering a couple of lines. REO Speedwagon has a net worth of $46 million. Guess what he looks like now! Kevin Cronin and Gary Richrath of REO Speedwagon at the Poplar Creek Music Theater in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, August 24, 1980. It was not a high point of my life. REO Speedwagon CD Lot! 4 CD Lot! Classic Rock 74643598828 | eBay Streamline your workflow with our best-in-class digital asset management system. We are pleased to do a new interview with Cronin, about how he wrote his classic REO songs, and his creative songwriting process. Richrath co-wrote some of the band's songs, including "Take It on the Run," which became a Top 5 pop hit on the Billboard charts. Because of all the traveling wed done, and the work wed been doing over the years, we all just arrived at this place where we really needed each other as brothers for mutual support. Cronin: I was kind of a late bloomer with the ladies. The song was remixed for the re-release to have more Pop appeal. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. The opening line may be even more important than the title. Erik Stein confirmed on Monday that Richrath passed away but offered no details about the cause of death. I had the verses already written. [I think] co-writing is a lot of funit definitely makes the process of songwriting more enjoyable because youre not sitting there by yourself. DK: More recently, REO has released the album Find Your Own Way Home in 2007 and REOs Christmas album in 2009. He might still occasionally enjoy the odd glass of wine at dinner, but he makes sure to drink it by the glass rather than the bottle. There was no way we would get together because she was with my friend. He was like, 'Oh my God, you're a true fan!' Or maybe it was a little thing to make me feel at home? 'Heartland' Actor Robert Cormier Dead at 33 Lead Singer of REO Speedwagon: 'Memba Him? When you talk about (the line) I once had a girl, or should I say, she once had me, the opening line from Norwegian Wood, which is arguably the greatest opening line in the history of songwriting. So well seethis year should be interesting. So I sat there and looked at my lyric notebook and if you think about it, the opening line of the song is I cant fight this feeling any longer. That was likeBingo! Do you love music? REO Speedwagon performing on Feb. 5, 1981 in Chicago, Il. [1] Offers may be subject to change without notice. I couldnt figure it out, and as a result, I had a really hard time finishing that song. [REO band member] Gary Richraththe late, great Gary Richrath who unfortunately passed away this past yearwas my partner in crime, so to speak. Is the lead singer of REO Speedwagon married? Kevin Cronin net worth, biography, married, divorce, husband, children And then if Im lucky enough to capture that, then the actual craftsmanship comes into play. 4 CD Lot! REO Speedwagon tour 2023: Where to buy tickets, schedule, prices It was just that I needed to really identify where the heart and soul of this piece that I was working on was. Its an example of the power of television. Cronin also presented LaTonya with the plaque commemorating the Billboard chart-topping single's 1981 platinum status for sales of more than 1 million copies. Its kind of a blessing and a curse. After realizing his lifestyle was starting to overshadow his work and family life, he made a 180-degree turn. Charlie discusses the songs that made him a Southern Rock icon, and settles the Devil vs. Johnny argument once and for all. The memoir (which is tentatively titled Roll With the Changes: My Life Within and Without REO Speedwagon) is now in its final stages -according to Cronin, it should be finished in time for a 2022 release. The band made a music video for this song in 1978, three years before MTV went on the air. And there were some radio stations in the Midwest that were playing those songs. He was a member of the band when it released its self-titled debut in 1971 and was with REO Speedwagon until 1989. Cronin was born on October 6, 1951, in the Chicago suburb of Evanston. Theres no bigger influence for me. When you start second guessing yourself, thats when you get lost. REO Speedwagon is an American hard rock band from Champaign, Illinois. Usually for me, the title is the last thing that happens. He has written many classic hit songs for REO, including Cant Fight This Feeling, Keep On Loving You, Roll With The Changes, Keep The Fire Burnin, Time For Me To Fly, Dont Let Him Go, That Aint Love, Keep Pushin and In My Dreams.. When we play Time for Me to Fly in concert, it's always one of those songs that gets a big response. DK: These days, so much of the songwriting process is co-writing, particularly in Nashville. It was kind of shocking in a way. But I was probably over halfway finished with Cant Fight This Feeling, and I felt that it was something special. The entire REO Family mourns his death and shares in the grief of his family, friends, and fans. When youre writing a song, you have no idea where that songs going to end upyou dont know whats going to happen. "It means so much," LaTonya said. DK: One of my favorite songs is Roll With The ChangesI think that song has inspired a lot of people. When you were recording Hi Infidelity, did you and the band feel that this was your best album up to that point? DK: I think Keep Pushin is one of the great songs from REOs early years, and maybe if it was released later in the mid-80s when the band was so hot, it could have been another big hit. This song, even though it wasnt finished yet, meant so much to me and it was such a big part of who I am, that I just knew that I wanted to finish this song myself. I didn't know what to make of it. REO Speedwagon, Boz Scaggs Latest To Sue Sony Music Over Digital Downloads, I feel so sad. REO Speedwagon - Wikipedia Grazing In The Grass by The Friends Of Distinction was the first big hit to use the phrase "dig it" in the lyric. I saw both seasons, all the way through, and I was like, Im ready to go. Hi Infidelity blew the doors off the joint and people went back and discovered (early albums like)You Can Tune a Piano, But You Cant Tuna Fish and discovered R.E.O/T.W.O, and all the songs on those albums. Bay Area. REO Speedwagon skyrocketed to fame in 1980 with their chart topping . Busted After Ariana Found Sexual Texts to Raquel. We pull up to the last gig of the tour and there on the marquee, in English, it says, REO Speedwagon plus ventriloquist act. We go into the venue, and not only were we sharing the bill, but we were sharing the dressing room with the ventriloquist act. We're all sitting there going, God, this is bullst. I gotta tell ya, I see the name REO Speedwagon all the time, but I don't often see my own name there. Theyre one of my favorite bands of all time, and I thought it was, Read More The Top 10 Ice Nine Kills Songs From The Silver ScreamContinue, Have you heard of American rap artist 2KBABY? Find out more about their lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist as we reveal 10 things you didnt know about Kevin Cronin. Joined my first band in 2008 (a Metallica cover band) and. I was really focused on my wife, my children and my homemy children are all in high school now. Kevin Cronin took over that role for their next effort, R.E.O./T.W.O. Kevin Cronin, lead singer of REO Speedwagon performs at the Illinois Bicentennial party at Navy Pier in Chicago, Illinois, December 3, 2018. During the peak of their success, the band was an almost permanent fixture on the Billboard Hot 100, racking up 13 Top 40 hits, two number 1s, and selling over 40 million records in total. I try to keep it that way, because I think theres a certain purityI try to keep the craftsmanship to a minimum. Since starting his career at the age of 19 as the house drummer on Saturday Night Live, hes graduated into, Read More 10 Things You Didnt Know about Steve JordanContinue, If youre a fan of rap music, you might be quite familiar with the name DJ Paul. I kind of want to hear some more about that. To a lesser extent perhaps, [its like] when Journeys Dont Stop Believin got played on the Sopranos final episode and that just breathed new life into that song. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, REO Speedwagon scored numerous hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including two chart-topping singles written by Cronin: "Keep on Loving You" (1981) and "Can't Fight This Feeling" (1982). Songwriting and music has always been my savior in that way. It just has this huge history to it. List of REO Speedwagon members - Wikiwand Kevin Cronin, lead singer of REO Speedwagon performs at the Illinois Bicentennial party at Navy Pier in Chicago, Illinois, December 3, 2018. Millions of high-quality images, video, and music options are waiting for you. Back in the day of the album, that was very important. I just really felt like it was a two-person job [this past year] more than ever. In addition to being in the band Carcosa, he has also been in Galactic Pegasus and One More Slice. I try to stick with the inspiration, and keep as much of that initial burst of creativity in the song as I possibly can. REO Speedwagon has released a number of successful albums, including 1980s Hi Infidelity,which sold 10 million copies in the United States. and still couldn't believe it -- but it is one of the funniest celeb. I had written some songs before that were okaythey were passable. I used to listen to the Beatles Rubber Soul albumI know that album inside and out. Kevin Cronin Of REO Speedwagon Talks About His Classic Hits And His Songwriting written by REO Speedwagon January 22, 2016 As the lead singer & songwriter of the multi-platinum rock band REO Speedwagon, Kevin Cronin has been the band's guiding force since joining the group in the mid-1970s. Cronin: I would hope that the point [of this story is], when youre writing a song, you have to stick with your gut. Andrew Baena was born on July 18, 1992, in Canada. When I rejoined, the band had moved from Champaign, Illinois to Los Angeles. The subjects that we were writing about were what was going on in our lives, since we were all in the same boat in a lot of ways. 5 Questions with REO Speedwagon's lead singer Kevin Cronin I think the main reason that I got the gig, was that REO had released one album, and they were working on songs for their second album for Epic Records. Kevin Cronin is a member of REO Speedwagon, one of the most popular rock bands of the 1980s. It just so happens that the album came out when I was in junior high school. You can find out more and change our default settings with Cookies Settings.