B-side "Follow My Heart" Format 7" Genre Soft rock | Released November 4, 1980 Recorded September 3, 1980 Length 3:22 | |
"Keep On Loving You" is a soft rock power ballad written by Kevin Cronin and performed by American rock band REO Speedwagon. It features the lead guitar work of Gary Richrath. The song first appeared on REO Speedwagon's 1980 album Hi Infidelity. It was the first REO Speedwagon single to break the top 50 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, reaching the number-one spot for one week in March 1981. The single was certified Platinum for U.S. sales of over one million copies. It peaked at number seven in the UK Singles Chart. "Keep On Loving You" has been described as "a mainstay on most '80s soft rock compilations" and has appeared on dozens of 'various artists' compilation albums, as well as several REO Speedwagon greatest hits albums.
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In popular culture
The song has been featured in numerous films, beginning with the 1982 film The Last American Virgin. It has subsequently featured in Crank: High Voltage, Smiley Face, and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past as well as appearing on the soundtrack to Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. In 2015, it appeared in the TV series Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp. A cover version by The Donnas appears in the 1999 film Drive Me Crazy, a RIM Blackberry advertisement and in the TV series Cougar Town. Most recently, it was featured in the film, "Storks". In late 2016 and early 2017, the song appeared in an Domino's Pizza commercial, for its Piece Of The Pie awards loyalty program.
Music video
In 1981, the music video of the song was the 17th played on the first day of broadcast of MTV, on August 1. It was framed by a scene of Kevin Cronin talking about his relationship troubles with a female psychiatrist and contained a shot where a woman picked up a telephone connected to Gary Richrath's guitar, referencing the live version of "157 Riverside Avenue."
Personnel
REO Speedwagon