Lobo's Chronological History Page

1943 - July 31, 1943 ---- Roland Kent LaVoie (aka Lobo) was born in Tallahassee, Florida. He is one of seven children raised in Winter Haven , Florida which is in the central part of the state.
1961 - In 1961 he was asked to join a band named "The Rumors", the first rock and roll band in Winter Haven.
1964 - It was while he was attending the University of South Florida that Lavoie met Phil Gernhard. Gernhard who had produced Maurice Williams and The Zodiacs big hit "Stay" and would also go on to produce Dion's "Abraham Martin and John". Would record Lavoie's first regional hit called "What Am I Doing Here" with the band Lavoie was in called "The Sugar Beats". This was an old Johnny Rivers tune.  The 'B' side was "Have You Ever Had The Blues", an old Lloyd Price tune.
1966 - While he was with the group "US Male". The group released a single "It's Gonna Be So Hard" backed with "Is This Guy Not Supposed To Cry". Both songs were written by Brooke Chamberlain, a local disc jockey. The single was released under the group name "The Uglies".
1967 - Kent joined the band "Me And The Other Guys". A record was released by this group, "Runaround Girl" but Kent did not sing on it.
1969 -
Kent met up again with Phil Gernhard. He recorded a song he wrote called "Happy Days In New York City" backed with another original song called "My Friend Is Here". This was Kent's first solo recording. He signed with Laurie records and the single was released.
1971 - Kent released his first major record under the name Lobo. "Me And You And A Dog Named Boo" was release in April on the Big Tree label. This became Big Tree's first major hit. His album "Introducing Lobo" followed in May. In June his second single "She Didn't Do Magic" was released. In September "California Kid And Reemo" was released. It was around this time that Big Tree Records was merged with Bell Records. In the confusion, Lobo's second album "Close Up" was lost and never released.
1972 - In February "The Albatross" was the final single to be released from "Introducing", also "Me and You And A Dog Named Boo" backed with "She Didn't Do Magic" was released on Bells oldies label Flashback Records. In March "A Simple Man" was released as a single, backed with "Don't Expect Me To Be Your Friend". In September Lobo's second major hit and Gold record "I'd Love You To Want Me" was released followed by his second album "Of A Simple Man". In December "Don't Expect Me To Be Your Friend" was released as an 'A' side single.
1973 - In March "It Sure Took A Long Long Time" was released as a single. In April Big Tree/Bell reissued the "Introducing Lobo" album. In May Lobo's third album "Calumet" was released. In June a song that was to become a classic, "How Can I Tell Her" was released as a single. In September Lobo made an appearance on American Bandstand. The next single was "There Ain't No Way" backed with "Love Me For What I Am" released in November.
1974 - In the months to follow Big Tree again was moved to a new distributor, this time WEA. In April the first single under Big Tree/WEA was the last single from "Calumet", "Standing At The End Of The Line" was released. In June Lobo's fourth album "Just A Singer" was released. This was the first album to be released that was not written by Lobo. The only single from this album, "Rings" was released in July. During this year a "Best Of Lobo" album was released in Europe on the Philips label.
1975 - In March "Don't Tell Me Goodnight" was released. This was his last top 30 record for Big Tree. In April the album "A Cowboy Afraid Of Horses" was release. In July his last single with Big Tree, "Would I Still Have You" was released. In October his last album with Big Tree "The Best Of Lobo" was released. This was followed by another best of album, "A Star For Millions" released in Europe on Philips.
1976 - Big Tree released Lobo's hits as double 'A' side singles. During this year Lobo's first post Big Tree album "Come With Me" was released in Europe on Philips. This album was written and produced by Lobo. This was the beginning of his break from Gernhard. a single "At First Sight" was also released in Europe. This album and single were never released in the U.S.A..
1977 - In 1977 Lobo signed with "Curb Records" and under Warner/Curb his first single "Afterglow" was released co-produced by Lobo and Gernhard.
1978 - Lobo's second single for Warner/Curb "You Are All I Ever Need" was released in April. This was the last single to have Gernhard as producer.
1979 - Curb records moved Lobo to MCA/Curb and hooked him up with producer Bob Montgomery and released his next single "Where Were You When I Was Falling In Love" This was his return to the top 30 and was hailed as his come-back. But it would be short lived. In November his first album in 4 years "Lobo" was released followed in December by his single "Holding On For Dear Love".
1980 - Curb records again moved Lobo, now to Elektra/Curb. In September "With A Love Like Ours" again produced by Bob Montgomery was released. In December "Fight Fire With Fire" was his last single for Curb. Not satisfied with the sound and production of his records Lobo asked for and was granted a release from his contract with Curb.
1981 - This was the start of a new era for Lobo. Along with Johnny Morris, Lobo formed the Lobo Records label in Nashville. His first single "I Don't Want To Want You", written by his brother Roger was released in November and faired well on the Country music charts. But with the lack of a major distributor it could not go beyond the top 30.
1982 - Lobo had a sting of minor hits on the country charts starting with "Come Looking For Me" released in March. Then, along with Kenny Earl and Narvel Felts, Lobo, under the group name "Wolfpack" released a single called "Bull Smith Can't Dance The Cotton Eyed Joe" written by Lobo and his brother Roger. In August his last single for Lobo Records, "Living My Life Without You" was released.
1985 - Lobo pulled out of Lobo Records and the label became Evergreen Records. Lobo released two singles while with Evergreen. "Am I Going Crazy" in March and "Paint The Town Blue" in June. "Paint The Town Blue" was a duet with Robin Lee and was the song that got her signed to a major label.
1987 - With Lobo's popularity growing in Asia, WEA released his "Best Of Lobo" album on CD in the Asian market. It was also around this time that Lobo re-recorded 3 of his hits for release on budget CD's. These CD's were released in the late 80's and again in the early and late 90's.
1988 - WEA released "The Best Of Lobo II" is Asia.
1989 - With the surge of popularity in Taiwan Lobo recorded and released his first new album in 10 years. The "Am I Going Crazy" album was released in Taiwan on UFO/WEA records and produced by Billy Aerts.
1990 - With the popularity of the Taiwan release, WEA released "Am I Going Crazy" in the rest of the Asian market minus one track and adding a few new ones. In June Curb records release the "Greatest Hits" CD world wide.
1993 - Rhino records bought the Big Tree catalog and release a "Best Of Lobo" CD  in June. Lobo was ranked #87 out of the Top 200 Adult Contemporary artist from 1961 to 1993.
1994 - With Lobo's popularity soaring in Asia he signed a multi-album deal with PonyCanyon Records in Singapore. His first release was "Asian Moon". This album consisted of tracks from "Am I Going Crazy" along with newly recorded tracks.
1995 - His second PonyCanyon album was "Classic Hits". A collection of re-recorded Lobo hits and covers of other artist hits. In December a Video Laser Disc was released called "Music Videos Lobo Golden Hits".
1996 - In April in the U.S. Rhino released another compilation CD called "I'd Love You To Want Me" which consisted of all of his Big Tree hits. PonyCanyon released Lobo's third album "Sometimes". This was all newly written and recorded material. In October Curb released another "Best Of Lobo" CD in the U.S. which included new recordings of his original hits..
1997 - In July Rhino's budget label Flashback re-released the "I'd Love You To Want Me" CD as "Me And You And A Dog Named Boo and Other Hits". In Asia Lobo signed a multi-album deal with the newly formed label Springroll Entertainment. In July his new album "You Must Remember This" was released in two formats. One with vocals and one as an instrumental album. This album was a collection of standards. In November Rhino released all of Lobo's Big Tree albums on CD in Europe. "Introducing Lobo" and "Of A Simple Man" were the first release. both albums on one disc. Then "Calumet" was released with bonus tracks. Finally "Just A Singer" and "A Cowboy Afraid Of Horses" were released on a single disc.  Just before Lobo was to go in the studio to record his next album for Springroll/PonyCanyon, the Asian stock market took a dive and PonyCanyon Singapore was one of the casualties. PonyCanyon shut down their Singapore office and Lobo lost his contract.
1998 - Lobo retired to his home in Florida.
1999 - On August 21 a "Greatest Hits" Cd was released in Japan. This album contained all of Lobo's Curb recordings, less "Our Best Time". It also contained a previously unreleased Elektra/Curb track called "New York Hold Her Tight".
2000 - In January Lobo signed with a German record company and on January 25 went in the studio to record a new album. The album will contain a compilation of previously released songs plus a few newly recorded tracks. The CD is slated to release sometime this year. In March Lobo did two Christmas songs for the new record company. "A Big Kids Christmas" and "Late Christmas Eve". They also recorded "Caribbean Disco Show". Also in March a new compilation CD was released in Hong Kong called "The Classic Gold of Lobo". On August 17 the German CD "The Very Best of Lobo" was released which included the newly recorded track "Let It Be Me". In December a various artist Christmas compilation was released in Germany containing the new Lobo songs "Late Christmas Eve" and "A Big Kids Christmas".
2001 - In April another compilation CD was released in Europe called "A Simple Man". Also in April another "Very Best Of" CD was released containing the new track "Caribbean Disco Show".
2002 - In September 2002 a Greatest Hits CD was released in Taiwan containing 2 more new tracks, "Who'll Stop The Rain" and "Different Drum", also Rhino released a "Very Best of Lobo" compilation in Taiwan. This is the best Rhino compilation to be released so far.
2006 - Lobo re-issued some of his CD's including "Come With Me", "Am I Going Crazy", and a "Greatest Hits" CD.
2008 - In January his new CD "Out Of Time" was released and represents the step back to the original era of these recordings, revisiting his old songs the same way he wrote them, by doing all the instruments himself they are "Out of Time".