Loverboy headlining local charity event
Music stars with local roots to perform online concert in support of Calgary causes
For longtime fans of Calgary-born rockers Loverboy, the prospect of watching singer Mike Reno, guitarist Paul Dean and the boys belt out the hits from the comforts of their individual living homes may seem a bit surreal.
After all, Loverboy was a trueblue, old-school arena rock starring act in its heyday, known for filling stadiums with rousing sing-a-long anthems, bare-chested fashions and tight leather trousers. But on June 27, Loverboy will be adapting to the “new normal” of live performance as part of a star-studded charity concert featuring Calgary musicians and expats representing multiple generations and genres. Three of the band members, including Reno and Dean, live in Vancouver. One lives in Winnipeg. One lives in North Carolina. Nevertheless, they will be together, digitally at least, to perform for Calgary Heart Beats, which aims to raise $1 million for five local charities,
“We’re all doing it from our homes, so it’s crazy,” says Reno. “I’ve done a few things, like podcasts and stuff. But the whole music thing throws a twist into it because there are certain things you have to watch out for. The distance, for one thing, and everybody’s got to be on the same groove. But we’ll figure it out. We’re working on it right now.”
Loverboy, who sold millions of records and conquered the fickle American market in the 1980s, is the undisputed elder statesmen in Heart Beats’ lineup. The concert, which will be streamed online through heartbeatslive.ca, Heart Beats Facebook and Heart Beats Youtube, is being presented by Calgary-based Event Group and will feature separate performances by country singer Paul Brandt, rising Nashville-based superstar Lindsay Ell, alt-rockers Reuben and the Dark, electronic-pop star Kiesza, teen sensation Tate Mcrae and singer-songwriter Adam Ambrose.
Of the seven performers, only Brandt, Mcrae and Ambrose still live in the Calgary area. But all of them call the city their hometown and all got their start here.
While Loverboy is often assumed to be a Vancouver creation, the band’s humble beginnings can actually be traced back to a meeting between Reno and Dean in a frigid warehouse behind the old Refinery nightclub 42 years ago. Dean had just been let go from the band Streetheart and was playing bass in a cover band to make ends meet. Reno was working construction after a stint with Toronto’s Moxie.
Reno heard Dean playing guitar one night and walked into the rehearsal space to listen. Loverboy was born. Granted, the band quickly decamped to Vancouver before becoming rock stars with hits such as Turn Me Loose and Working for the Weekend.
“Whenever Calgary calls, we come a-running,” Reno says. “When I left high school, I went to Calgary for six or seven years. I was in the music scene for sure. I went back east for a while, but when I came back, Paul and I started Loverboy back in 1978. We consider ourselves a Calgary band.”
Dave Howard, president of the Event Group, said the idea for the show was to enlist bands from Calgary to support the community.
Plans are to expand into Vancouver, Toronto, Winnipeg, Ottawa and Saskatoon soon.
“I started to learn about how many charities are being stretched real thin right now,” Howard says. “Suicides (are) on the rise. Drug and alcohol abuse is on the rise. Domestic violence is on the rise. Poverty among our veterans is on the rise. Our frontline workers are working tirelessly to help. I really saw a need to bring Calgary together for charities. These charities can help in the recovery of Calgary.”
The five charities that will benefit from the concert include Fresh Start Recovery, #Not In My City, Homes for Heroes Foundation, Calgary Health Trust and Calgary Emergency Women’s Shelter. The livestream is free, but viewers are encouraged to donate at heartbeatslive.ca. They are also encouraged to order food from a local restaurant on the day of the show.
All performers will deliver a 20-minute mini-concert, and it starts at 5 p.m. on June 27.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a disruptive force for all musicians in these past few months. Loverboy cancelled dozens of gigs planned for 2020, including a stint in Las Vegas. Still, the band will be releasing a new song, appropriately titled Give Me Back My Life, in the next few weeks. While that may sound like it was written about lockdowns and the pandemic, it was actually written about Dean’s son, who has suffered from diabetes since he was a young boy. Beyond that, the band is just waiting it out like everyone else.
“I was thinking about this the other day: I’ve been doing this since I was 15 years old,” Reno says. “I haven’t had a summer off in 50 years. I’m planning on doing a little bike riding, hanging around the house, getting to know some of my stuff.”
Still, Reno says he feels for younger artists whose careers have been temporarily shut down.
Sixteen-year-old Tate Mcrae, for instance, was enjoying massive success leading up to the pandemic. Her EP, All the Things I Never Said, has been streamed 130 million times.
In January, her first headlining tour to Toronto, Brooklyn, Berlin, Amsterdam and London was sold out. She was supposed to spend
April on a 15-city tour of the United States.
“I feel sorry for the young lady,” Reno says. “We’ve had 40 years of road touring and concerts and record sales. She is just getting started. That’s as tough as it gets. But it will add some moxie to her future because she will have lived through this. There has to be an end to this. There was a beginning and there will be an end.”