REO Speedwagon is an American rock band that grew in popularity in the Midwestern United States during the 1970s and peaked in the early 1980s. REO Speedwagon hits include "Keep On Loving You" and "Can't Fight This Feeling". Both songs are power ballads, the former being prototypical of the genre and appearing on the group's most commercially successful album, Hi Infidelity, which also included the hit "Take It on the Run," a song that peaked at number five on the U.S. charts.

Since the band released its first record in 1971, Reo Speedwagon has sold 17 critically acclaimed albums, as well as scoring 13 Top 40 singles (which included two Billboard #1 hits). All together Reo Speedwagon has sold over 40 million records.

REO Speedwagon took its name from the REO Speed Wagon, a flatbed truck, 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. 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.

Richrath was a Peoria, Illinois-based guitar player and prolific songwriter who brought original material to the band including REO's signature song "Ridin' the Storm Out." With Richrath on board, the regional popularity of the band grew tremendously. The Midwestern United States was the original REO Speedwagon fan stronghold and is pivotal in this period of the band's history.

Paul Leka, an East Coast record producer, brought the band to his recording studio in Bridgeport, Connecticut after being impressed by a concert he attended in Illinois. He shopped the finished recordings for nearly a year before finding interest at Epic Records in New York City. Epic's legal staff was able to secure rights to the name and logo for the band at this time. The lineup on the first album consisted of Richrath, Gratzer, Doughty, Philbin, and Luttrell.

Starting out in a used Chevy station wagon, REO played bars all over the Midwest. The band's debut album, REO Speedwagon, was released on Epic Records in 1971. One of the most popular tracks on this record was "157 Riverside Avenue". The title refers to the Westport, Connecticut address where the band stayed while recording in Leka's studio in nearby Bridgeport, and remains an in-concert favorite.

Although the rest of the band's line-up remained stable, REO Speedwagon switched lead vocalists three times for their first three albums. Luttrell left the band in early 1972, eventually becoming the vocalist for Starcastle. He was replaced by Kevin Cronin. Cronin recorded one album with the band, 1972's R.E.O./T.W.O., but left the band during the recording sessions for 1973's Ridin' The Storm Out because of missed rehearsals and creative disagreements. Ridin' the Storm Out was completed with Michael Bryan Murphy on the microphone. Murphy stayed on for two more albums, Lost in a Dream and This Time We Mean It, before Cronin returned to the fold in January 1976 and recorded R.E.O., which was released that same year.

REO Speedwagon's first live album, Live: You Get What You Play For (1977), was certified platinum. The band was dissatisfied with the producers on their studio albums because of their alleged inability to capture on tape the quality of the band's live show. The live album, which was self-produced, seemed to change that.

In 1977, Philbin was replaced with Bruce Hall to record You Can Tune a Piano but You Can't Tuna Fish, released in 1978 which received FM radio airplay but fell short of the Top 40. In 1979, the band took a turn back to hard rock with the release of Nine Lives.

The lineup was now set for the band's most popular era. 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 three months at number one.

Good Trouble (1982) and Wheels Are Turnin' (1984) were follow-up albums which also did well commercially, the former containing the hit singles "Keep the Fire Burnin'" (U.S. #7) and "Sweet Time" (U.S. #26) and the latter containing the #1 hit single "Can't Fight This Feeling." 1987's Life as We Know It saw a decline in sales, but still managed to provide the band with the hits "That Ain't Love" and "In My Dreams".

However, by the end of the 1980s, the band's popularity began to wane. In 1988, their future was uncertain as Gratzer retired from the group at the end of that summer to open a restaurant. Former Santana drummer Graham Lear then joined. Lear had been playing with The Strolling Dudes, a side project put together for fun by Cronin and Hall, that also included jazz horn player Rick Braun. Around this same time, Cronin and some of the other band members had been getting into healthier lifestyles, adopting better diets, better nutrition, etc. Richrath, however, chose not to follow this course. He had also developed writer's block. After further disagreements between him and the others regarding the band's musical direction, he was asked to leave. Richrath departed in early 1989 after a tour of Hawaii. Strolling Dudes guitarist Miles Joseph was then brought in as a temporary replacement and back up singers Carla Day and Melanie Jackson (who were also Strolling Dudes members) were added to boost the group's vocal sound onstage. This lineup did only one show—in Viña del Mar, Chile—ironically winning the award for best group at the city's annual International Song Festival. After that, Miles Joseph and the back up singers were dropped in favor of former Ted Nugent guitarist Dave Amato and songwriter/producer/keyboardist Jesse Harms (Eddie Money, Sammy Hagar).

The 1990 release The Earth, a Small Man, His Dog and a Chicken, with Bryan Hitt (formerly of Wang Chung) replacing Graham Lear on drums, Dave Amato debuting on lead guitar, and songwriter/keyboardist Jesse Harms was a commercial disappointment. Harms was disillusioned and his tenure in the group ended in early 1991. These lineup changes and Richrath's departure were a stinging blow to many fans, especially those of the band's harder-edged material from the 1970s which had been dominated by Richrath's unique style on the guitar.

Shortly after his departure, Richrath assembled former members of the midwestern band, Vancouver, to form a namesake band, Richrath. After touring for several years, the Richrath band released Only the Strong Survive in 1992 on the GNP Crescendo label. Richrath continued to perform for several years before disbanding in the late 1990s.

In the meantime, REO Speedwagon lost their recording contract with Epic, and ended up releasing Building the Bridge (1996) on the Priority/Rhythm Safari label. When that label went bankrupt, the album was released on the ill-fated Castle Records which also experienced financial troubles. REO Speedwagon ultimately self-financed this effort, which failed to chart.

Epic has released over a dozen compilation albums of REO Speedwagon recordings. These contain various combinations of older hits or obscure regional favorites. Some have been re-mastered, meaning the audio quality has been enhance by modern technology. 1999's The Ballads contained two new songs, as did the original "HITS" album.

In 2000, REO teamed up with Styx for an appearance at Riverport Amphitheater in St. Louis, which was released as a live concert video Arch Allies: Live at Riverport. The REO portion of the show was released separately as a video package: Live - Plus (2001), and audio CD: Extended Versions (2001).

REO once again teamed with Styx in 2003 for the Classic Rock's Main Event tour which also included Journey.

The band released a self-financed album entitled Find Your Own Way Home in April 2007. Though it did not chart as an album, it produced two singles which appeared on Billboard's Adult Contemporary radio chart.

In 2008 REO was featured on the PBS concert series "Soundstage." A DVD was later released, containing additional songs that were not in the one-hour broadcast.

On October 11th, 2008, REO teamed up with Rick Springfield and Vertical Horizon for the International Concerts Event and gave an outrageous performance in Trinidad. It was their second appearance in Trinidad and Tobago.

REO Speedwagon continues to tour, performing mostly their 1970s and 1980s hits. They are regulars on the fair and casino circuits, but still team with other acts to play larger venues.