Credit: Randee St. Nicholas
REO Speedwagon‘s home-state fans just keep on loving them, as the veteran rockers have been voted #1 in a poll of the “Top Musicians in Illinois History.” The list is the latest installment of the Illinois Top 200 project, a series of polls held in conjunction with the state’s bicentennial celebration that gives Illinois residents the chance to choose their local favorites in 20 different categories.
A press release about the Top Musicians notes that REO Speedwagon was formed in 1967 in Champaign, Illinois, and that the band has sold more than 40 million records and has scored 14 top-40 hits on the rock and pop charts.
In response to his band topping the poll, frontman Kevin Cronin says, “We have always been proud of our Illinois roots, and have a deep connection with the people from the many Illinois cities and towns which gave us our start, and support us to this day. There are so many great musicians from Illinois, and to be mentioned anywhere on this list is an honor. For the people of our home state to vote us as their number one is awesome.”
The only other rock act in the top 10 is Cheap Trick, who hail from Rockford, Illinois. The 2016 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees landed at #4. Surprisingly, Chicago did not make the cut, although the list does include funk/R&B veterans Earth Wind & Fire, blues legends Buddy Guy and Muddy Waters, jazz giant Miles Davis, and soul great Sam Cooke.
The Illinois Top 200 project is a joint initiative of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, the Springfield-based State Journal-Register newspaper and the Illinois Bicentennial Commission.
Here are the 10 highest vote-getters in the “Top Musicians in Illinois History” poll:
1. REO Speedwagon
2. Alison Krauss
3. Nat King Cole
4. Cheap Trick
5. Miles Davis
6. Benny Goodman
7. Buddy Guy
8. Earth Wind & Fire
9. Muddy Waters
10. Sam Cooke
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