REO Speedwagon - Keep On Loving You

REO Speedwagon is an American rock band. Formed in 1967, the band grew in popularity during the 1970s and peaked in the early 1980s. Hi Infidelity is the group's most commercially successful album, selling over ten million copies and charting four Top 40 hits in the US. Over the course of its career, the band has sold more than forty million records and has charted thirteen Top 40 hits.

REO Speedwagon's popularity has declined over the years but the band still tours regularly, and remains popular on the fair and casino circuits and teams up with other acts to play larger venues. In summer 2010, the band – then touring with Pat Benatar – announced that it will release a 30th anniversary deluxe edition reissue of Hi Infidelity.

REO Speedwagon took its name from the REO Speed Wagon, a flatbed truck and fire engine, manufactured by the REO Motor Car Company. ("R.E.O." are initials of the company's founder, Ransom Eli Olds, who also founded Oldsmobile, once a division of General Motors.)

REO Speedwagon was formed by students attending the University of Illinois in Champaign, Illinois in the fall of 1967 to play cover songs in campus bars. The first line up consisted of Alan Gratzer on drums and vocals, Neal Doughty on keyboards, Joe Matt on guitar and vocals, and Mike Blair on bass and vocals.

In the spring of 1968, Terry Luttrell became lead singer, and Bob Crownover and Gregg Philbin replaced Matt and Blair. Joe McCabe played sax at this time until moving to Southern Illinois University. Crownover played guitar for the group until the summer of 1969 when Bill Fiorio replaced him. Fiorio then departed in late 1969, eventually assuming the name Duke Tumatoe, and went on to form the All Star Frogs. Another guitarist, Steve Scorfina, came aboard briefly, and was replaced by Gary Richrath in late 1970.

In the fall of 1980, REO Speedwagon released Hi Infidelity, which represented a change in the music from hard rock to more pop-oriented material.Hi Infidelity spawned four hit singles written by Richrath and Cronin, including the #1 "Keep On Loving You", the #5 "Take It on the Run", "In Your Letter" (#20), and "Don't Let Him Go" (#24), and remained on the charts for 65 weeks, 32 of which were spent in the top ten, including 15 weeks atop the Billboard 200.

"Keep On Loving You" is a power ballad written by Kevin Cronin. It features the lead guitar work of Gary Richrath. It was one of many REO Speedwagon songs to become a pop hit, reaching the number-one spot for one week in March 1981 on the US Billboard Hot 100 becoming the 500th song to do so in the process, and peaking at number seven in the UK Singles Chart. The single was certified Platinum for US sales of over 2 million copies.

In 1981, the music video of the song was the 17th played on the first day of broadcast of MTV, on August 1.

The song has been featured in numerous films, beginning with the 1982 film The Last American Virgin. It has subsequently featured in Crank: High Voltage and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past as well as appearing on the soundtrack to Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. A cover version by The Donnas appears in the 1999 film Drive Me Crazy and in the TV series Cougar Town.