Roland Kent LaVoie is best known to the world as the folk singer Lobo, but for many out there, the name might not ring any bells. After all, his biggest hit came in 1971 with Me and You and a Dog Named Boo and since then he's released only sporadic albums and a bunch of best-of collections while coming in and out of retirement. His has been a musical career in which, by his description, "success came at the front end."
But he hasn't done too badly for himself since then.
After his vertical ascent to stardom in the early 1970s in North America and Europe, his fame spread in the 1980s to Asia. In advance of his first concerts in Taiwan since 1989, tonight and tomorrow at the Taipei International Convention Center, Taipei Times caught up with Lobo by telephone at his Florida home. Taipei Times: What has your life been like since the release of Me and You and a Dog Named Boo?
PHOTO COURTESY OF ARTIST
Lobo: I've been semi-retired since 1972, which is pretty nice. Now I do a tour a year, maybe two if I'm up to it. The traveling takes a lot out of me.
TT: Why do you think your music has appealed to so many people through such a long period of time?
Lobo: Because it's safe. Even when it was a hit it was perceived as elevator music. It got huge amounts of air play on those contemporary adult music stations, you know, the ones that basically play elevator music all day.
But also because it's from the heart. I'm not trying to be flashy or gimmicky, and I think people can tell that from the first listen.
TT: Your earliest foray into music was as a guitarist for a local rock band in the early 1960s in Florida. Is that when you began to sense your musical talent?
Lobo: Not really. I had bought an electric guitar with money from a paper route and was the only guy around with one, so I got invited to join the band. I don't think I would have been asked to join if I hadn't had that guitar.
TT: How much of your musical development is related to its context in late-1960s and early-1970s America?
Lobo: I was never part of any movement at that time. The only thing that swayed me back then was the Beatles. I've never been much of a blender in the music community. But that era was so vibrant. It was a great time to be a young person. Young people were so alive back then with a tremendous innocence and optimism. There's no doubt that the music has that feeling of optimism and the sense of youth trying to make the world a better place. Me and You and a Dog Named Boo is all about that, about getting up and heading out for some adventure and just being free.
TT: Do you have any keepsake guitars from back in the day?
Lobo: Of course. I have a Martin D18 that I bought new in 1968 that I still play to this day. And I have a Gibson 330 that's my baby. I would burn it before I sold it to somebody. The singer Joey from that band Europe once tried to buy it off me and I said: "You don't have enough Swedish money to buy this thing off me!"
But for the music I play, which is easy-listening country and folk, a beautiful old Takamine is the only thing to use onstage.
What: Lobo live in concert
When: Tonight, 7:45pm
Where: Taipei International Convention Center, 1 Xinyi Rd, Sec 5, Taipei(
Tickets: NT$800 to NT$3,000
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