Lobo biography

 

Roland Kent Lavoie, 31 July 1943, Tallahassee, Florida, USA.

Lobo was the pseudonym of Roland Lavoie, a singer-songwriter who was successful in the early 70s. He was raised in the town of Winter Haven, Florida, where he began his musical career as a member of the Rumors. He apprenticed in several other groups during the 60s as well, notably, the Legends from Tampa, Florida, which included Gram Parsons and Jim Stafford, who would also enjoy success in the early 70s with two US Top 10 hits, produced by Lavoie. (Other members of the Legends included Gerald Chambers and Jon Corneal, the latter remaining an associate of Parsons for many years.) Lavoie also performed with bands called the Sugar Beats and Me And The Other Guys, neither of which had any success outside of their region.

 In 1971, former Sugar Beats member Phil Gernhard signed Lavoie, calling himself Lobo (Spanish for wolf) to Big Tree Records, where he was an executive, and released their first single, ‘Me And You And A Dog Named Boo’. It reached number 5 in the US and launched a successful series of singles. The song became his only hit in the UK, where it reached number 4. Back-to-back Top 10 hits in 1972, ‘I’d Love You To Want Me’ and ‘Don’t Expect Me To Be Your Friend’, were the last major hits for Lobo. However, he continued to chart with Big Tree until 1975 (six albums also charted, but only the second, Of A Simple Man, in 1972, made the Top 40). In 1979, Lobo resurfaced on MCA Records, ‘Where Were You When I Was Falling In Love’, reached number 23.

In the mid-80s Lobo went into semi-retirement. However, in the 90s he toured frequently in Asia and recorded several albums on the Pony Canyon label in Singapore for the Asian market only.