Ravinia_2018_Week

7:00 PM SUNDAY, JUNE 3, 2018

PAVILION

SURVIVOR

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–Intermission–

LOVERBOY

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Ravinia debut

LOVERBOY

Though the band got its start on the outside

looking in—both in terms of the 1980s and the

stadium rock scene in the United States—Lov-

erboy quickly began to dominate both with the

release of its eponymous debut album on Co-

lumbia Records Canada in the early months of

the decade. Thanks to the vivacious tracks “The

Kid Is Hot Tonite” and “Turn Me Loose,”

Lover-

boy

accrued multiplatinum sales in both the US

and the band’s native Canada, and over half a

year was dedicated to touring. Loverboy struck

platinum again in late 1981 with

Get Lucky

which featured what would become the group’s

signature hit, “Working for the Weekend.” The

disc also put Loverboy in the record books for

decades to come, earning six Juno Awards from

the Canadian recording academy. The group’s

1983 follow-up

Keep It Up

was true to its titular

mission, setting Loverboy on its third straight

multiplatinum sales track as well as back in the

top 10 in both the US and Canada, and the band

soon embarked on its first headlining world

tour. By then, Loverboy had also become one

of the first major stars of MTV, even holding a

contest with the nascent cable channel to allow a

fan to appear in the music video for the

Keep It

hit “Queen of the Broken Hearts.” The group

aimed for a heavier sound on 1985’s

Lovin’ Ev-

ery Minute of It

, which added two more songs to

their catalogue of hits: the title track and “This

Could Be the Night.” Loverboy has regularly

been on the road since the early ’90s, pausing to

record new albums only at 10-year intervals after

1987’s

Wildside

until 2012’s

Rock ’n’ Roll Revival

which saw the band reunite with the engineer

behind its first three albums to create three new

songs and revitalize a handful of classics. An all-

new album,

Unfinished Business

, was released in

2014. Loverboy is making its Ravinia debut.

SURVIVOR

Originally a quintet from Chicago, Survivor

played its first shows in late 1978 and quick-

ly began lining up regular gigs at small clubs

throughout the city and the near suburbs. The

group soon landed a record deal with Atlantic,

and by early 1980 Survivor had released its first

album on the label’s Scotti Brothers imprint.

Premonition

followed the next year, featuring

the band’s first top-40 single, “Poor Man’s Son,”

but it was in 1982 that Survivor hit the big time.

Sylvester Stallone sought out the band to record

the theme song for his movie

Rocky III

, so they

obliged with “Eye of the Tiger.” Released as a

single shortly after the film, the song held the

top spot on the

Billboard

charts for seven weeks

and won both a Grammy and a People’s Choice

Award, as well as nominations for an Oscar

and a Golden Globe. Later, in

Billboard

’s 100th

anniversary issue, the song claimed the num-

ber 18 spot on its list of the top 100 singles. An

album of the same name was released later in

1982, featuring the top-20 hit “American Heart-

beat.” After 1983’s

Caught in the Game

, lead

vocal duties in Survivor went to Jimi Jamison,

whose first recording with the band was “The

Moment of Truth,” the theme song to

The Karate

Kid

. Survivor found another huge success with

the 1984 disc

Vital Signs

, which achieved a plat-

inum sales record and a top-20 chart position

thanks to the top-10 popularity of “The Search

Is Over” and “High on You” as well as the rock

chart topper “I Can’t Hold Back.” The following

year, Stallone requested Survivor back for the

Rocky IV

soundtrack, for which they wrote the

number-two hit “Burning Heart.” Another two

albums were released before the decade’s end,

and a combination of songs from a mid-’90s

demo session and new material was released in

2006 as

Reach

, produced by Survivor co-found-

er Frankie Sullivan. Survivor is making its Ra-

vinia debut.

RAVINIA MAGAZINE | JUNE 1 – JUNE 10, 2018

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