Song:I'd Love You To Want Me
Album:The Best Of Lobo
I'd Love You To Want Me was the biggest hit for singer songwriter Lobo in 1972. He had three top ten hits in the early 70s and when his career faded, he remained popular in Asia. He was born Roland Kent LaVoie July 31, 1943 in Tallahassee, FL. In 1961, his first band The Rumors included Gram Parsons and Jim Stafford. While attending the University Of South Florida in 1964, he joined The Sugar Beats and they had a regional hit with a cover of the Johnny Rivers song What Am I Doing Here?. It was here that LaVoie met Phil Gernhard who would produce his 70s hits. Gernhard had a long career in music with a knack for producing novelty songs like Jim Stafford's Spiders and Snakes and Snoopy vs The Red Baron by The Royal Guardsmen. He also produced Dion Dimucci's 1968 monster hit Abraham, Martin & John. LaVoie bounced around several bands and Gernhard produced his 1969 single Happy Days In New York City for Laurie Records. Then Gernhard took a staff producer job for the new label Big Tree Records. Big Tree was founded by current Sony Music chairman Doug Morris in 1970. Morris sold the label to Atlantic Records in 1974 and became co-chairman of Atlantic. LaVoie signed with Big Tree and Gernhard produced his single Me and You and a Dog Named Boo. Supposedly, LaVoie was concerned about being labeled as a novelty act and took the stage name Lobo. I guess he thought if the song was a failure, he could still record under his own name. But Me and You and a Dog Named Boo reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1971. That was from his debut album Introducing Lobo. His second album was never released but his third album Of A Simple Man did much better. I'd Love You To Want Me reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1972 and Don't Expect Me To Be Your Friend reached #8 in 1973. He had a few more chart hits and you can get them all on this Rhino comp. Lobo and Gernhart left Big Tree in 1976 and recorded an album in Europe. Then Gernhart took a job with Curb Records and took Lobo with him. Lobo recorded one single and then signed with MCA in 1979. He was so unhappy with the resulting album that he asked for his release. He moved to Nashville and started his own label. At this point, Lobo was through in the US but he was still a big deal in Asia and has recorded for labels in Taiwan and Singapore. Lobo continues to tour Asia on a regular basis. Here's Lobo performing I'd Love You To Want Me on the German TV show Melody 1972.
No comments:
Post a Comment