LCAP 13.Scene.REO Speedwagon

Published 5:00 am Thursday, June 13, 2019

By Crystal Stevenson

cstevenson@americanpress.com

Neal Doughty knows music can tug at the heartstrings or get the heart pumping. As one of the founding members of REO Speedwagon, he said he’s proud their music has served as a soundtrack to so many people’s lives.

“Our music is the soundtrack to our own lives, too,” he said. “I think a lot of the people who are our audience now were in high school when we had our biggest hits and those are the years when you fall in love for the first time, get a broken heart for the first time and there’s always a song happening at the same time. We still have a few people crying their eyes out on some songs and really coming back to life on the next, depending on what was going on in their life when the song happened.”

He said fans have told him the band’s music got them through difficult periods of their lives.

“You get a broken heart and you think you’re never going to meet anyone again but that’s not what happens,” he said. “Eventually you’ll get the right person.”

Doughty said his own love for music began at a young age.

“My mom played the piano, purely for fun, so we had a piano in the house for as long as I can remember,” he said. “I would just sit down at the thing and I kind of taught myself. Everything is laid out there right in front of you.”

Doughty said as The Beatles grew in popularity so, too, did his interest in music.

“I kind of picked them to teach myself how to play,” he said. “I started learning Beatle songs by ear and then I started playing them at high school parties and I found out that when you play the piano there would always be a cute girl come sit on the bench with you. I’m happily married now, but I heard that still works.”

After high school, Doughty went on to study engineering at The University of Illinois, where he tried to balance book work and band time.

“But eventually the band took over,” he said.

Doughty said REO Speedwagon started “purely by accident.”

“I was living in the dormitory and a guy I had just met — our original drummer Alan Gratzer — was also in engineering and he was in this little band that was playing in bars all over campus and they had started to not like their keyboard player very much. I was following them around and sitting in on a few songs and eventually we all formed a new band with me playing the keyboards but we were also still going to school.”

Doughty said being a full-time college student and trying to be in a rock band on weekends began to take its toll.

“As it turned out, the music sort of won out and we were politely asked to never come back to The University of Illinois again, although we got our revenge by becoming the most popular band on that campus,” he said. “We were packing the nicer bars in Champagne, Ill. People were literally hanging in the rafters to get a better view. We just became so popular on campus that that’s what got the interest of record producers in New York.”

Doughty said the producer who visited one of their shows said he liked their music but was even more impressed by the number of people in the audience and their reactions to the songs.

“We were basically signed to our first record deal because of our popularity on campus,” he said. “I think there are a few bands that have made it that way. From that point on, things started getting a little better over time. It still took 10 years for us to get a highly successful record but it was always going in the right direction — just enough so we didn’t get kicked off the record label.”

Doughty said after about 10 records, the band stwumbled onto “Hi Infidelity,” which produced such hits as “Keep on Loving You” and “Take It on the Run.” The record spent 15 weeks on top of record charts and received the RIAA’s 10X Diamond Award for surpassing sales of 10 million in the United States.

“Things just seemed to magically work all the sudden,” he said. “All the songs people liked and everything about the record was really easy to listen to.”

Other fan favorites they’re known for are “Can’t Fight This Feeling,” “In Your Letter” and “Time For Me to Fly.”

Doughty said it’s hard to believe he is a 50-year member of a rock band.

“Sometimes I think it must be a clerical error, but I’m doing it,” he said with a laugh. “We’re not slowing down; the creaky joints haven’t hit us yet. We’re still able to look very energetic on stage.”

REO Speedwagon will perform at 8:30 p.m. Friday, June 14, at Golden Nugget Casino Resort. Tickets start at $55.