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Post by Buck on Sept 14, 2015 18:29:38 GMT
Bum. We did a lot of touring with the Gary era REO in the 70's and 80's. I last saw him in Ventura CA when we played the Ventura Theater about 10 years ago. He came down and said hi.
Only Kevin Cronin and Neal Doughty remain from the original band. I wonder why Gary left but never asked him, or Kevin. People from my era have begun falling away.
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Post by wingswetteddown on Sept 14, 2015 23:11:54 GMT
RIP Gary
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Post by marty on Sept 14, 2015 23:36:38 GMT
REO is from central IL, my neck of the woods. The original singer, Terry Luttrell, had an aunt who lived around the block from us. REO practiced in her garage, before they hit it big. We used to sit in the back yard and listen to them. Gary knew, even then, that they'd be big someday. He always told us - wait and see! We loved that first record.
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Post by zenman on Sept 15, 2015 2:34:49 GMT
Sixty five is too damn young.
RIP.
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Post by markus on Sept 16, 2015 18:59:28 GMT
RIP and condolences to friends and extended family.
REO was in some ways a prototypical '70's band and a reflection of the music business and the music buying/consuming culture of the times. REO slogged it out on the road for many years, putting out albums that barely charted, but cultivating a loyal concert following through serious road burn. It wasn't until 7 years after their debut that they had a Top-40 album and 9 years until they had a Top-40 single; as we all know they became serious A-listers from 1980-1985'ish.
A friend of mine that's an REO fan kind of explained the whole REO-Richrath falling out as a Medusa-like tale, with each member at the time having a version as to what happened, culminating in Cronin have the best lawyers and eventually controlling the name.
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Post by Jamie B on Sept 16, 2015 23:26:55 GMT
Weirdly enough I had recently been looking for Gary's "solo" album from 1992 and ordered a copy. I got the email that it had shipped on the same day as his passing was announced. I had snagged his autograph years ago but for some reason never bought his album...until now. Timely I guess.
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Post by weavil on Sept 18, 2015 5:38:04 GMT
This is very sad for me as my first taste of the guitar gods was Gary Richrath at Lincoln High School in Wisconsin Rapids. My buddy's older brother took me to the show, I was 15 or 16, and was waved in from the stage during the "Flying Turkey Trot".
It was later revealed that some of the band members were being entertained by 'the young kid dancing his arse off in Row 6', me, so Gary waived in a roadie to bring me to the foot of the stage.
Gary began playing ferocious riffs and licks at me, blowing my mind in so many ways, while the rest of the band laughed and giggled. Then he grabbed his Les Paul and 'annointed' me from the stage, which brought a huge cheer from the crowd.
I bought my first guitar the next week!
Being a Midwest band, they toured to the point of being LOVED by everyone in the Midwest, long before they became the "Hit Machines" they ended up being just a few years later.
R.I.P. Gary Richrath
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