REO SPEEDWAGON – Hi Infidelity Album’s 35th Anniversary Celbrated On InTheStudio; Audio Interview

North American syndicated rock radio show and website, InTheStudio: The Stories Behind History’s Greatest Rock Bands, spotlights the 1980 #1 album Hi Infidelity from REO Speedwagon with singer/songwriter Kevin Cronin and keyboardist/ co-founder Neal Doughty.

Says host Redbeard: “If REO Speedwagon was a baseball team, the statistics from their 1980-81 season would be as follows: 9 – High Infidelity was the band’s ninth studio album; 4- the number of times REO Speedwagon changed lead singers; 2 – the number of times Kevin Cronin was hired to be that lead singer; 5 – the number of charted singles from that sole album; 1- the chart sales peak of both the Hi Infidelity album and its first single “Keep On Loving You”; 15 – the number of weeks as the top- seller in the US; 10,000,000+ – the number of copies sold of REO Speedwagon’s High Infidelity album.

“In a lot of ways, REO Speedwagon was much like the Midwest region from which they sprang at the University of Illinois at Champaign, solid unassuming hard-charging musical journeymen determined to make it.  InTheStudio host Redbeard rolls through the changes that made REO the biggest band in America in 1980 with singer/ songwriter Kevin Cronin and co-founder keyboardist Neal Doughty.”

“I think it was the frustration that kept us going. We knew we could do it. We weren’t going to quit one record before the big one.” – Neal Doughty

Kevin Cronin remembers the contributions that the late Gary Richrath gave to the band prior to Richrath’s September death.                    

“Gary used to write tons of songs… He put this song on (“Take It On The Run”) and from the very opening, ‘Heard it from a friend who hear it from a friend…’ just got me. I think it’s Gary’s best song ever. Of all the songs written, I think it’s the most emotional he’s ever gotten with his lyrics.”  

Tune in at this location.