Lobo (musician)
Encyclopedia
Roland Kent LaVoie, better known by the stage name
Stage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...

 Lobo (born July 31, 1943), is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

 who was successful in the early 1970s, scoring several U.S. Top 10 hits, including "Me and You and a Dog Named Boo
Me and You and a Dog Named Boo
"Me and You and a Dog Named Boo" is the 1971 debut single by Lobo. The single peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 and was the first of his four number ones on the Easy Listening chart, where it had a two-week stay at number one in May 1971....

", "I'd Love You to Want Me
I'd Love You to Want Me
"I'd Love You to Want Me" is the title of a popular song from 1972 by Roland Kent Lavoie, who performed using the stage name Lobo. Lavoie wrote the song, which appears on his album Of a Simple Man....

" and "Don't Expect Me to Be Your Friend".

Early career: 1960s

Born in Tallahassee, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, LaVoie was raised by his mother in Winter Haven, Florida
Winter Haven, Florida
Winter Haven is a city in Polk County, Florida, United States. The population was 26,487 at the 2000 census. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2007 estimates, the city had a population of 32,577, making it the second most populated city in Polk County...

 with his six siblings. He began his musical career in 1961 as a member of a local band, The Rumours. The band included Gram Parsons
Gram Parsons
Gram Parsons was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and pianist. Parsons is best known for his work within the country genre; he also mixed blues, folk, and rock to create what he called "Cosmic American Music"...

 and Jim Stafford
Jim Stafford
James Wayne "Jim" Stafford is an American comedian, musician, and singer-songwriter, prominent in the 1970s. Stafford is self-taught on guitar, fiddle, piano, banjo, organ and harmonica....

, as well as drummer Jon Corneal, who later joined Parsons' International Submarine Band.

In 1964, while attending the University of South Florida
University of South Florida
The University of South Florida, also known as USF, is a member institution of the State University System of Florida, one of the state's three flagship universities for public research, and is located in Tampa, Florida, USA...

, LaVoie joined a band called the Sugar Beats and met producer Phil Gernhard. He recorded a regional hit for the band, a cover of Johnny Rivers
Johnny Rivers
Johnny Rivers is an American rock and roll singer, songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. His styles include folk songs, blues, and revivals of old-time rock 'n' roll songs and some original material...

' song, "What Am I Doing Here".

During the 1960s, LaVoie performed with many other bands, including US Male, The Uglies, and Me and the Other Guys. It was in the latter band that he met musician Billy Aerts, who became a member of Lobo's touring band in the early 1970s and produced Lobo's comeback album in 1989.

Again working with Gernhard, his first solo record was released in 1969 on Laurie Records
Laurie Records
Laurie Records was a record label started in 1958 by Gene Schwartz and Allan I. Sussel. Sussel was a multi-millionaire whose earlier record company, Jamie Records , had been unsuccessful. As a result, Sussel joined forces with Schwartz to found Laurie Records, this time named after his other...

. It included the original tracks "Happy Days In New York City" backed with "My Friend Is Here".

Early 1970s

By 1971, LaVoie had started calling himself Lobo (Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

 for wolf). Gernhard was an executive for Big Tree Records
Big Tree Records
Big Tree Records was a record label founded by current Sony Music Entertainment chairman Doug Morris in 1970. They were best known for releases by Lobo, England Dan & John Ford Coley, Brownsville Station and British R&B group Hot Chocolate....

, and the company released his first single, "Me and You and a Dog Named Boo
Me and You and a Dog Named Boo
"Me and You and a Dog Named Boo" is the 1971 debut single by Lobo. The single peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 and was the first of his four number ones on the Easy Listening chart, where it had a two-week stay at number one in May 1971....

". The first major hit for the label, it reached number 5 in the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and launched a successful series of singles. The song also reached number 4 in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...

 in September 1971.

His debut album, Introducing Lobo, followed that May. In June 1971 his second single, "She Didn't Do Magic", was released. In September of the same year, "California Kid And Reemo" was released, followed by The Albatross. When Big Tree Records merged with Bell Records, Lobo's second project album Close Up was never released.

Under the Lobo alias, he released Of a Simple Man in 1972, which included back-to-back U.S. Top 10 hits, including "Don't Expect Me To Be Your Friend", which reached number 8 in the US charts in the winter of 1973, and "I'd Love You to Want Me
I'd Love You to Want Me
"I'd Love You to Want Me" is the title of a popular song from 1972 by Roland Kent Lavoie, who performed using the stage name Lobo. Lavoie wrote the song, which appears on his album Of a Simple Man....

". The latter became Lobo's biggest hit, climbing to number 2 on the Billboard charts
Billboard charts
The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine...

 in 1972, and internationally reaching number 1 in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, and in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 it peaked at No. 5 in July 1974. Another million seller it was granted gold disc status in November 1972.

With the release of Calumet in 1973, Lobo had three more Top 40 hits: "It Sure Took a Long, Long Time," "How Can I Tell Her" and "Standing at the End of the Line." He made an appearance on American Bandstand
American Bandstand
American Bandstand is an American music-performance show that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989 and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as producer...

that year. There were two further minor hit singles from the album, "There Ain't No Way" and in 1975 "Standing At The End Of The Line".

Mid-1970s–1980s

In June 1974 Lobo's fourth album, Just A Singer, was released. It was the first album by Lobo to contain tracks not written by Lobo. The only single from the album was "Rings". "Don't Tell Me Goodnight" in 1975 became his last Top 30 single for Big Tree. Lobo also released the album, A Cowboy Afraid Of Horses with "Would I Still Have You" released as a single. The label followed it up with a compilation album that year entitled "The Best of Lobo".

In 1976, Lobo broke away from Big Tree, releasing the album Come With Me in Europe on the Philips
Philips Records
Philips Records is a record label that was founded by Dutch electronics company Philips. It was started by "Philips Phonographische Industrie" in 1950. Recordings were made with popular artists of various nationalities and also with classical artists from Germany, France and Holland. Philips also...

 label. "At First Sight" and "It's Everywhere" were the singles. Neither were released in US.

1977 Lobo signed with Curb Records
Curb Records
Curb Records is a record label started by Mike Curb originally as Sidewalk Records in 1963...

 in 1977 releasing from the album the single "Afterglow", co-produced by Lobo and Gernhard and in 1978 "You Are All I Ever Need".

In 1979, Lobo was signed to MCA Records
MCA Records
MCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003...

, where he worked with producer Bob Montgomery
Bob Montgomery (musician)
Bob Montgomery is an American singer, songwriter, and music producer/publisher.Montgomery was born in Lampasas, Texas. He was a songwriting partner and best friend of Buddy Holly, performing together as the duo "Buddy and Bob" while teenagers in high school...

 releasing the single "Where Were You When I Was Falling In Love", which reached #23. He also released his first US album in four years, Lobo. Other singles for Curb were "Holding On For Dear Love", "With A Love Like Ours" and "Fight Fire With Fire".

Reportedly dissatisfied with the production of his records, Lobo sought a release from his Curb contract. He moved to Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

 and in 1981 he started his own label
Private brand
Private branding is when a large distribution channel member , buys from a manufacturer in bulk and puts its own name on the product. This strategy is, with some exceptions, generally only practical when the retailer does very high levels of volume...

, Lobo Records, and released several singles including "I Don't Want To Want You", written by his brother, Roger LaVoie, "Come Looking For Me" and "Living My Life Without You" charting in the country charts. He also released "Bull Smith Can't Dance the Cotton Eye Joe" with the group Wolfpack which included Narvel Felts and Kenny Earl.

Lobo Records became Evergreen Records in 1985. The label released two of his singles, "Am I Going Crazy" and "Paint The Town Blue", the latter a duet with Robin Lee.

1990s–2000s

Although far less followed in the United States, Lobo's popularity grew in Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

, fanned by the release of his greatest hits
Greatest hits
A greatest hits album is a music compilation album of successful, previously released songs by a particular artist or band...

 compilations in 1987 and 1988. This encouraged him to release in 1989, his first new album in 10 years, entitled Am I Going Crazy. It was recorded in Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

 on UFO/WEA records and was produced by Billy Aerts. He signed a multi-album deal with PonyCanyon Records in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

, and in 1994 released Asian Moon, repackaging some of the tracks from Am I Going Crazy along with newly recorded marterials. His follow up album Classic Hits in 1995 were re-recordings of Lobo hits and some cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

s. in 1995. In 1996 he released the album Sometimes containing all new original songs.

On another Asian label, Springroll Entertainment, he released You Must Remember This in 1997, an album of pop standards that was released in two formats, one with vocals and the other with instrumental tracks.

In 2000, Lobo signed with a German record company, Gmbh Entertainment, and recorded a few tracks for various Hits CDs. He also co-wrote two Christmas songs
Christmas music
Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music normally performed or heard around the Christmas season, which tends to begin in the months leading up the actual holiday and end in the weeks shortly thereafter.-Early:...

 with Billy Aerts, "A Big Kid's Christmas" and "Late Christmas Eve", which have been released on various Christmas compilations from 2000 to present. Singles recorded during this period include "Let It Be Me", "Who'll Stop The Rain" and "Different Drum".

In 2006, based on his Asian popularity, he toured in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...

.

In 2008 Lobo released Out of Time which featured old favorites and some new songs. A tribute album to the original era of the early Lobo recordings, was made available from the website Fansoflobo.com.

Albums

  • 1971 Introducing Lobo (Big Tree
    Big Tree Records
    Big Tree Records was a record label founded by current Sony Music Entertainment chairman Doug Morris in 1970. They were best known for releases by Lobo, England Dan & John Ford Coley, Brownsville Station and British R&B group Hot Chocolate....

    )
  • 1972 Of a Simple Man (Big Tree
    Big Tree Records
    Big Tree Records was a record label founded by current Sony Music Entertainment chairman Doug Morris in 1970. They were best known for releases by Lobo, England Dan & John Ford Coley, Brownsville Station and British R&B group Hot Chocolate....

    )
  • 1973 Calumet (Big Tree
    Big Tree Records
    Big Tree Records was a record label founded by current Sony Music Entertainment chairman Doug Morris in 1970. They were best known for releases by Lobo, England Dan & John Ford Coley, Brownsville Station and British R&B group Hot Chocolate....

    )
  • 1974 Just a Singer (Big Tree
    Big Tree Records
    Big Tree Records was a record label founded by current Sony Music Entertainment chairman Doug Morris in 1970. They were best known for releases by Lobo, England Dan & John Ford Coley, Brownsville Station and British R&B group Hot Chocolate....

    )
  • 1975 A Cowboy Afraid of Horses (Big Tree
    Big Tree Records
    Big Tree Records was a record label founded by current Sony Music Entertainment chairman Doug Morris in 1970. They were best known for releases by Lobo, England Dan & John Ford Coley, Brownsville Station and British R&B group Hot Chocolate....

    )
  • 1976 Come With Me (Philips
    Philips Records
    Philips Records is a record label that was founded by Dutch electronics company Philips. It was started by "Philips Phonographische Industrie" in 1950. Recordings were made with popular artists of various nationalities and also with classical artists from Germany, France and Holland. Philips also...

    )
  • 1979 Lobo (MCA
    MCA Records
    MCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003...

    )
  • 1989 Am I Going Crazy? (WEA/UFO)
  • 1994 Asian Moon (Ponycanyon)
  • 1995 Classic Hits (Ponycanyon)
  • 1996 Sometimes (Ponycanyon)
  • 1997 You Must Remember This (Springroll)
  • 2006 Am I Going Crazy (CD reissue - Lobo Records)
  • 2006 Come With Me (CD reissue - Lobo Records)
  • 2008 Out Of Time (Lobo Records)

Compilations

  • 1975 The Best Of Lobo (Big Tree
    Big Tree
    * Big Tree may refer to:* Big Tree, the tallest tree known to the public in northern California's Redwoods* The Senator, the oldest pond cypress tree in the United States...

    )
  • 1990 Greatest Hits (Curb
    Curb Records
    Curb Records is a record label started by Mike Curb originally as Sidewalk Records in 1963...

    )
  • 1993 The Best of Lobo (Rhino)
  • 1996 The Best of Lobo (Curb)
  • 1996 I'd Love You to Want Me (Rhino)
  • 1997 Me & You & A Dog Named Boo & Other Hits (Rhino)
  • 2004 The Very Best of Lobo (WEA International
    Warner Music Group
    Warner Music Group is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies...

    )
  • 2005 Introducing Lobo/Of a Simple Man (Wounded Bird)
  • 2005 Platinum Collection
  • 2006 Ultimate Collection (EMI) Malaysia
  • 2006 Me & You & A Dog Named Boo & Other Hits (Collectables)
  • 2007 Greatest Hits (Lobo Records)

Charted Singles

Year Single Chart positions
US
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

US
AC
Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks
The Adult Contemporary chart is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and "lite-pop" radio stations in the United States...

US Country
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...

UK
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

1971 "Me and You and a Dog Named Boo
Me and You and a Dog Named Boo
"Me and You and a Dog Named Boo" is the 1971 debut single by Lobo. The single peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 and was the first of his four number ones on the Easy Listening chart, where it had a two-week stay at number one in May 1971....

"
5 1 4
"She Didn't Do Magic" 46 flip
"I'm the Only One" flip 14
"California Kid and Reemo" 72 19
1972 "A Simple Man" 56 17
"I'd Love You to Want Me
I'd Love You to Want Me
"I'd Love You to Want Me" is the title of a popular song from 1972 by Roland Kent Lavoie, who performed using the stage name Lobo. Lavoie wrote the song, which appears on his album Of a Simple Man....

"
2 1 5
"Don't Expect Me to Be Your Friend" 8 1
1973 "It Sure Took a Long, Long Time" 27 3
"How Can I Tell Her" 22 4
"There Ain't No Way" 68 29
"Love Me For What I Am" 86
1974 "Standing At the End of the Line" 37 25
"Rings" 43 8
1975 "Don't Tell Me Goodnight" 27 2
"Would I Still Have You" 44
1979 "Where Were You When I Was Falling In Love
Where Were You When I Was Falling In Love
"Where Were You When I Was Falling In Love" is a popular song written by Sam Lorber, Jeff Silbar and Steve Jobe, and released as a single in 1979 by the musician Lobo. It peaked at number twenty-three on the Billboard Hot 100 and became Lobo's fourth and final number one on the Adult Contemporary...

"
23 1
"Holdin' On For Dear Love" 75 13
1981 "I Don't Want to Want You" 40
1982 "Come Looking for Me" 63
"Living My Life Without You" 88
1985 "Am I Going Crazy" 57
"Paint the Town Blue"(with Robin Lee) 49

External links

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