Mike Reno of Loverboy

Here's the Professor of Rock video on "Almost Paradise."

Loverboy was first album I ever bought.

Damn, didn't realize the lead singer was a straight-up twunk back in the day.

Loverboy's early gay vibe - Turn Me Loose, When It's Over had me convinced they were a gay band. Mike's red leather outfit and his red bandanna were tell tale signs. Their lyrics - until Queen of The Broken Hearts, Hot Girls In Love made zero mention of women. I started going to gay bars (not dance clubs) in 82, and Loverboy and Laura Branigan were played constantly. I always wondered who they aimed their audience at.

Ann Wilson comes across as a bit of a snot in that interview. Mike Reno is very generous but she acts like she was slumming to sing with him.

Plenty of cheesy 80s pop-rock holds up for me. Loverboy generally doesn't. Though I loved them at the time and I don't have a problem with them personally.

I wouldn't say I'm a huge fan, but I love "Turn Me Loose."

I just looked up what Mike looks like today...wish I hadn't. Looks like he was turned loose at a few too many Vegas buffets.

Almost Paradise is a great song, it's aged very well. If Mike Reno and Ann were both drunk when they recorded it, you would never be able to tell.

I get Loverboy mixed up with Motherboy.

Lol, OP, I hadn't thought of Mike Reno in decades!

Back in '82 or '83 one of the kids in my Mom's daycare would tie on a red bandana and do a dead solid perfect Mike Reno impersonation, down to the nasally mid-range voice. And she was only 7 or 8 years old.

Cracked me the fuck up every time. It was just so...random.

[quote] Ann Wilson comes across as a bit of a snot in that interview. Mike Reno is very generous but she acts like she was slumming to sing with him.

Yes, she was being ridiculous. I think Heart was in the doldrums at the time. It was after their ROCK success and before their POP success. Otherwise, she wouldn't have even been singing "Almost Paradise."

Mike was very sweet. Ann still hasn't figured out that she was never going to get her choice of male vocalist to do a duet with. It was always gonna be MIKE.

Also, Mike can sing and hit high notes. I don't even think Paul Rodgers was the right singer for "Almost Paradise." Lou Gramm, yes.

My brother and I referred to him as “Tad Martin” whenever a Loverboy video would air on MTV.

I gotta troon out my way, or no way at all!

Listening to Almost Paradise all these years later, Mike was well-matched with Ann. They sounded great together. Four years after Almost Paradise, Ann was paired with Robin Zander for Surrender to Me from the soundtrack for Tequila Sunrise. It's a good song, but she definitely sounded better with Mike.

Almost Paradise was right before Heart's huge comeback.

Kenny Loggins sang Almost Paradise w/Ann on stage. KL sounded pretty good.

I still pop on Loverboy once in awhile. it's a nostalgia vibe for sure, but they were awesome and they get me all hyped up when I need a pick-me-up.. I Just don't understand how hot guys let themselves go so hard. Especially rockers. I mean, Mike Reno was delicious. Wouldn't you think it would be not so hard to maintain a baseline over the years? As a famous front man? Otherwise, he's a legend.

Bassist Scott Smith got swept overboard from a sailboat in 2000. Missing at sea and presumed dead. Reno said Smith was his best friend. Reno took it hard when Smith died. Despite is friendly demeanor, I do feel something is going on with Mike to gain that much weight. Drinking? He said he still smokes, sometimes.

"Lucky Ones" was my teenage roller skating jam; i can still remember it being played at maximum volume at the massive speakers of the roller rink. Nowadays in a drunken nostalgic moment I will play it in the kitchen while husband and i are preparing dinner. Mike Reno might have changed physically but unlike most of his peers he can still sing. More power to him!

Wow r12, I never thought of that, but he did look like a derpy version of Tad Martin back in the day.