Founding members were lead singer Mike Reno (previously with Moxy as Mike Rynoski), guitarist Paul Dean (previously with Scrubbaloe Caine and Streetheart), keyboardist Doug Johnson, bassist Jim Clench (replaced after one gig by Scott Smith) and drummer Matt Frenette.

Throughout the 1980s, Loverboy accumulated numerous hit songs in Canada and the United States, earning four multi-platinum albums and selling millions of records.

In 1984 Loverboy recorded the United States Team theme for the 1984 Summer Olympics, "Nothing's Gonna Stop You Now".

Also in 1984, Loverboy recorded a song called "Destruction" which appeared on the 1984 soundtrack of a re-edited version of the film Metropolis (1927).

Keyboardist Doug Johnson refused to appear in the video as he felt that the film glorified war, which he opposed.

While it scored a minor hit with "Notorious", co-written by Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora, the album sold relatively poorly and the band broke up in 1988 due to tensions between Dean and Reno.

On October 6, 1991, the band reunited again to join fellow rockers Bryan Adams, Colin James, Chrissy Steele and Bill Henderson of Chilliwack at a benefit show at Vancouver's 86 Street Music Hall to raise over $50,000 for Henderson's former bandmate, Brian MacLeod, who was fighting cancer and undergoing treatment at a Houston medical clinic.

[13] The band continued touring until November 30, 2000, when bassist Scott Smith was presumed dead after being washed overboard by a large wave while sailing in San Francisco Bay.

In 2006, twenty-five years after its initial release, Get Lucky was remastered and re-released with several previously unreleased songs, including the original demo of "Working for the Weekend".

[15] In a video interview from March 2007, Mike Reno confirmed that the band finished recording a new studio album released in 2007.

While continuing to tour in 2014, it was announced on the official Loverboy home page on June 19, 2014, that the band's newest album of all-original material, Unfinished Business, was expected to be released on July 15, 2014.

[20] In 2016 the band released two new singles, "Hurtin'" and "Some Like It Hot", the latter is described by Paul Dean as "the first and only shuffle Loverboy has ever done", comes from the same late '70s period as several of the songs found on their previous album, 2014's Unfinished Business.

"Giving it all away/Living for today," sings Mike Reno on the track – which originated as a demo, but was later rearranged and augmented by Dean, describing this latest as a "gift" from the band to its fans.

Dean went through more than 230 individual two-inch analog tapes he had transferred to digital, including this "gem" from the band's storied history.

The single, artwork and accompanying music video – with a montage of a Loverboy program from the band's 1983 Keep It Up tour – prominently features the late bassist Scott Smith.

In 2016 a commercial and digital short for National Car Rental started airing that features the band and major fan Patrick Warburton, best known for his role as David Puddy in Seinfeld.

There is also a digital short, specifically made available on National Car Rental's YouTube channel, with Warburton having the group autograph their Get Lucky album, and pledging his devotion.

[21][22] In 2017 the band released a new single, "Stop the Rain"[23] and appeared at the Rockingham Festival 2017, held at Nottingham Trent University, UK, between October 20–22, 2017.