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YouTubeWho are The Corrs?
The Corrs are a family affair, Andrea (lead vocals), Sharon (violin, piano, vocals), Caroline (drums, piano, vocals) and Jim (guitar, piano, vocals) have sold over 40 million albums worldwide and in excess of two million albums in Australia since their 1995 debut album Forgiven Not Forgotten crashed into the charts and stole our hearts. An enchanting mix of traditional Celtic music with a pop rock twist, The Corrs have written some of the biggest songs of the last three decades.
Forgiven Not Forgotten gave us the incredible title track, the exquisite Heaven Knows and of course, arguably one of the biggest adult contemporary songs of the modern era, Runaway. Their second album, Talk On Corners led with I Never Loved You Anyway, So Young and Only When I Sleep and is their biggest selling album to date. After a short break, The Corrs returned with In Blue which features their highest streaming ever. The enchanting Breathless has received staggering 132 million plays on Spotify and counting!
After a short break, The Corrs returned with In Blue which features their highest streaming ever. The enchanting Breathless has received staggering 132 million plays on Spotify and counting! Returning to their folk roots with Borrowed Heaven and Home, The Corrs went on a decade long hiatus to raise families, only to return in 2015 with White Light and their latest release 2017’s Jupiter Calling, featuring the sublime, Son Of Solomon and SOS (Song of Syria).
The Corrs to perform in Aust for first time in 21 years
Check out my interview with Sharon here
Meet Roland Kent LaVoie aka Lobo
Best remembered for soft-rock perennials like “Me and You and a Dog Named Boo” and “I’d Love You to Want Me,” Lobo was the alias of singer/songwriter Roland Kent LaVoie. At 17 he joined the Rumors, whose ranks also included future luminaries like country-rock pioneer Gram Parsons, country-pop cut-up Jim Stafford, and noted drummer Jon Corneal. From there LaVoie attended the University of South Florida, joining the Sugar Beats and making his recorded debut on their 1964 single “What Am I Doing Here?” Although the group proved short-lived, it inaugurated a lengthy collaboration between LaVoie and bandmate Phil Gernhard, who would later produce all of Lobo’s hits; together they also helmed the Jim Stafford favorites “Spiders & Snakes” and “Wildwood Weed.” Stints in the Little-Known Uglies and Me & the Other Guys followed before LaVoie issued his debut solo single, “Happy Days in New York City,” in 1969. Two years later, he recorded “Me and You and a Dog Named Boo”; sensing the song’s hit potential — but also wary of succumbing to one-hit-wonder novelty status — he adopted the Lobo moniker, and after the single cracked the Top Five in the spring of 1971, many assumed the record was the product of a group and not a solo act. The album Introducing Lobo also yielded the minor hits “I’m the Only One” and “California Kid.”
Whatever his original intentions, LaVoie maintained the Lobo alias for the follow-up, 1972’s Of a Simple Man, and the gambit worked; the album scored his biggest chart hit, “I’d Love You to Want Me,” as well as another Top Ten smash, “Don’t Expect Me to Be Your Friend.” With 1973’s Calumet, Lobo earned three more Top 40 hits: “It Sure Took a Long, Long Time,” “How Can I Tell Her,” and “Standing at the End of the Line.” However, outside of “Don’t Tell Me Goodnight” from the 1975 LP A Cowboy Afraid of Horses, LaVoie’s commercial momentum dissipated as the decade continued, and after notching a number 23 hit in 1979 with “Where Were You When I Was Falling in Love,” his chart run was over. After a short stay at Elektra, in 1981 he formed his own label, Lobo Records (later rechristened Evergreen), releasing a series of little-noticed singles before retiring from performing in 1985. Lobo returned to duty in 1989 with the Taiwanese release Am I Going Crazy; his popularity in the Far East is still strong. In 1995 he signed to the Singapore-based Pony Canyon imprint for a number of new LPs, including Asian Moon, Sometimes, and You Must Remember This.
The Strawbs still living the glory days
The Strawbs were a British progressive band of the early 1970s that differed from their more successful compatriots — the Moody Blues, King Crimson, Pink Floyd — principally because their sound originated in English folk music rather than rock. Their transformation from acoustic bluegrass outfit to progressive folk-rock innovators was an impressive feat, and they hit their stride with gems like 1972’s Grave New World and its follow-up Bursting at the Seams. As the ’70s wore on, the Strawbs’ career began to falter with ongoing lineup and label changes marring their progress. They survived a breakup at the end of the decade and went on to enjoy a revival period in the mid-’80s that helped carry them and their fans into the 21st century. The Strawbs of the 2000s delivered an array of studio albums including highlights like 2005’s Painted Sky and 2009’s The Broken Hearted Bride. Over the years, the group has managed to remain stylistically adventurous even on late-period outings like 2021’s Settlement, released over 50 years after their debut.
They are best known for their hit “Part of the Union”, which reached number two in the UK Singles Chart in February 1973, as well as for “Lay Down”, a popular progressive rock hit from the same LP. Strawbs toured with Supertramp in their “Crime of the Century” tour, doing their own “Hero and Heroine” tour, which drew musical similarities and themes. Guitarist Chas Cronk fills us in on the unusual story of the band’s success
