[1] REO Speedwagon has sold more than 40 million records and charted 13 Top 40 hits, including the number ones "Keep On Loving You" and "Can't Fight This Feeling".

Doughty had learned some Beatles songs on his parents' piano, and Gratzer had been a drummer in local bands since high school.

[2][3] Gratzer continued to perform with his band (which had a keyboard-playing lead singer), and Doughty began turning up at gigs.

In early 1968, Terry Luttrell became lead singer and Bob Crownover joined as the guitarist, replacing Matt after he graduated.

Fiorio then departed in late 1969, eventually assuming the name Duke Tumatoe, and went on to form the All Star Frogs.

With its equipment hauled to gigs in a friend's station wagon, REO played bars and clubs all over the Midwest.

Although the rest of the band's lineup remained stable, REO Speedwagon switched lead vocalists three times for their first three albums.

Murphy stayed for two more albums, Lost in a Dream (1974) and This Time We Mean It (1975), before Cronin returned in January 1976 and recorded R.E.O., released in July of that year.

[9] He was replaced by another Centennial High School alumnus, Bruce Hall,[3] to record You Can Tune a Piano but You Can't Tuna Fish.

[4] The album was released in March 1978 and has received much FM radio airplay over the years, thanks to songs like "Roll with the Changes" and "Time for Me to Fly".

[4] On November 21, 1980, Epic released Hi Infidelity,[4] which represented a change in sound, going from hard rock to more pop-oriented material.

[11] On July 13, on the way to a show in Milwaukee, the band stopped in Philadelphia to play at the US leg of Live Aid, which broke a record for number of viewers.

1987's Life as We Know It saw a decline in sales,[4] but still managed to provide the band with the top-20 hits "That Ain't Love" (U.S. #16) and "In My Dreams" (U.S.

Lear had already been invited to join REO in September 1988 as Gratzer's successor and Joseph was brought in as a temporary stand-in for Richrath.

This lineup did only one show, on January 7, 1989, in Viña del Mar, Chile, where it won the award for best group at the city's annual International Song Festival.

After that, Joseph and the backup singers were dropped in favor of former Ted Nugent guitarist Dave Amato (brought aboard in May 1989) and keyboardist/songwriter/producer Jesse Harms.

The 1990 release The Earth, a Small Man, His Dog and a Chicken, with Bryan Hitt (formerly of Wang Chung) on drums, was a commercial disappointment.

In September 1998, Gary Richrath briefly joined REO onstage at the County Fair in Los Angeles to play on the band's encore song, "157 Riverside Avenue".

Having lost its recording contract with Epic, REO Speedwagon released Building the Bridge (July 1996) on the Priority/Rhythm Safari label.

The commercial failure of the band's newer material with its revised lineup demanded a change in marketing strategy.

[16] On December 2, the band released an online video game, Find Your Own Way Home, produced by digital design agency Curious Sense.

[18] REO Speedwagon headlined the M&I Classic Rock Stage at Summerfest in Milwaukee Wisconsin on June 30, 2011.

On November 22, 2013, REO announced a benefit concert with Styx, "Rock to the Rescue", to raise money for families affected by the tornadoes in central Illinois.

[26] The band appeared in an episode in the third season of the American TV series Ozark, which was released on Netflix on March 27, 2020.

In 2021 REO Speedwagon was inducted into the Hall of Fame at the Illinois Rock & Roll Museum in Joliet.

[33][34] On November 7, 2023, Hall announced he was taking a leave of absence from touring to prepare for and undergo back surgery for an accident he had a number of years earlier.

Other posts on the band's Facebook page in the days leading up to the announcement said that Cronin had experienced illness and had undergone emergency surgery, resulting in cancelled tour dates.

On December 21, 2024, Cronin confirmed that the show from that night was the last that would be performed under the REO Speedwagon moniker and the name would be retired.

However, he would continue to play solo concerts with the same touring lineup and REO Speedwagon songs would still be performed.