Credit: Gary Gershoff
Credit: Gary GershoffCongratulations to REO Speedwagon! Their 1980 album, Hi Infidelity, recently was certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of 10 million in the U.S.
The band’s current lineup — Kevin Cronin, Neal Doughty, Bruce Hall, Dave Amato and Bryan Hitt — was presented with a special plaque in celebration of the honor last Thursday during a rooftop ceremony at Sony Music’s New York City headquarters. The event also was attended by the group’s manager, Tom Consolo, Hi Infidelity co-producer Kevin Beamish, former MTV VJ Mark Goodman, and executives from the RIAA and Sony’s Legacy Recordings.
Released in November 1980, Hi Infidelity went on to spend 15 weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200. The album yielded four hit singles: the chart-topping “Keep On Loving You”; “Take It on the Run,” which peaked at #5; “In Your Letter,” which reached #20; and “Don’t Let Him Go,” which ascended to the #24 spot.
In a post on REO Speewagon’s official Facebook page, Cronin wrote that he and his band mates wished that founding guitarist Gary Richrath, who died in 2015, could have been at the ceremony, adding that “he was surely there in spirit” and that “[n]one of this would have been possible without Gary.”
REO Speedwagon wraps up their United We Rock tour with Styx and ex-Eagles guitarist Don Felder with a show on Tuesday, August 22, in Holmdel, New Jersey. The band has more than a dozen other upcoming tour dates scheduled through a January 28 performance in Detroit.
Here are all of REO Speedwagon’s upcoming U.S. gigs:
8/22 — Holmdel, NJ, PNC Bank Arts Center*
8/24 — Asheville, NC, Biltmore Estate
9/14 — Cedar Falls, IA, University of Northern Iowa
9/15 — Peoria, IL, Peoria Civic Center
9/16 — Quapaw, OK, Downstream Casino Resort
9/29 — Cabazon, CA, Morongo Casino Resort & Spa
9/30 — Las Vegas, NV, Orleans Showroom
10/1 — Las Vegas, NV, Orleans Showroom
10/3 — Enid, OK, Central National Bank Center
10/5 — Huntsville, AL, Von Braun Center Concert Hall
10/7 — Fayetteville, NC, Crown Complex
11/16 — Effingham, IL, Effingham Performance Center
11/17 — Red Wing, MN, Treasure Island Resort & Casino
11/18 — Waukegan, IL, Genesee Theater
1/28/18 — Detroit, MI, MotorCity Casino Hotel
* = with Styx and Don Felder.
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