REO Speedwagon bassist Bruce Hall recently shared a photo from a charity reunion performance. He notably excluded longtime frontman Kevin Cronin while praising other band members as the group’s true founding fathers, as reported in a post on Bruce Hall’s Facebook page.
The post accompanied a photo from a charity concert that featured Hall alongside original members Neal Doughty and Alan Gratzer. The photo notably did not include Kevin Cronin.
‘Love this photo! First time in 37 years the 3 of us played together,’ Hall wrote. ‘Forever grateful to the founding fathers, Neal and Alan, of REO Speedwagon.’
The comment appears to send a pointed message to Cronin. Hall specifically identified Doughty and Gratzer as the band’s founding fathers while omitting any mention of the vocalist who has been the face of REO Speedwagon for decades.
Hall’s pointed reference to the band’s founding fathers highlights the complex history of REO Speedwagon’s formation and evolution over more than five decades.
Wikipedia documented that Neal Doughty and Alan Gratzer indeed formed REO Speedwagon in 1967 after meeting in their dormitory at the University of Illinois in Champaign. The duo began as college roommates who started jamming together. Doughty played keyboards and Gratzer played drums, making them the true original founding members of the band.
Kevin Cronin’s relationship with the band has been more complicated than many fans realize. Saturday Evening Post reported that Cronin first joined REO Speedwagon in 1972 but left the band in 1973 due to creative differences. He returned in 1976 when the group was struggling commercially. His second stint with the band proved more successful and coincided with their rise to mainstream popularity.
The band has experienced numerous lineup changes throughout its history. Bruce Hall himself joined in 1977 as a replacement bassist. Last.fm noted that Hall became a consistent and long-standing member of the group. He contributed to their most successful albums, including ‘Hi Infidelity,’ which became one of the best-selling rock albums of the 1980s.
The charity reunion performance that sparked Hall’s social media post represents a rare gathering of the band’s core members from their most commercially successful era. The performance excluded Cronin, who has remained the band’s primary frontman and public face for nearly five decades.
