Songoftheday 3/5/16 - Maybe it's too late but this feelin' is runnin' through my soul, think I've learned what love is but I'm afraid I let it go...

"Here With Me" - REO Speedwagon
from the album The Hits (1988)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #20 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 9

Today's song of the day comes from the mainstream rock group REO Speedwagon, who were last seen continuing their pop success in the 80s with their Life As We Know It album which spun off two top-20 hits with "That Ain't Love" and "In My Dreams". Their final release of the decade was their second compilation, which included songs from their most productive period, along with two new tracks. One of them, "Here With Me", was another soft-rock power-ballad written by lead singer Kevin Cronin along with producer/songwriter Rick Braun, and if he didn't write their "Can't Fight This Feeling" Kevin would probably be sued for plagiarism...

"Here With Me" became REO Speedwagon's thirteenth and so-far final top-40 pop hit in the U.S. in September of 1988. The song also made it to #9 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio chart. Internationally, the record stopped at #25 in Canada.

After the release of The Hits and this single, the band would fracture, with drummer Allan Gratzner and guitarist Gary Richrath leaving REO. In 1990, Cronin, keyboardist Neal Doughty (the only member remaining from the band's original incarnation), bassist Bruce Hall, and new members Dave Amato on guitar and drummer Bryan Hitt released a new album with the awkward name of The Earth, A Small Man, His Dog And A Chicken. The first single, "Live It Up", did respectably on rock radio, reaching #6 on Billboard's Album Tracks chart, while pop offering "Love Is A Rock" was a minor pop hit at #65. The released a couple more independent albums since, with their self-financed Find Your Way Home album sending two songs on to the Adult Contemporary chart, with their last singles chart appearance in 2008 with the title track at #23. They continue to tour the "oldies rock" circuit with fellow vets like Styx.

Up tomorrow: A different side of the King of Pop.