Penticton鈥檚 hometown hero Mike Reno turned 67 this weekend.

Lead singer of famous 鈥�80s band Loverboy, Reno is a graduate of Penticton Secondary School. Twitter lit up on Saturday as birthday wishes were sent to him from around the world.

I know there are some legendary birthdays today, but let's throw a little love to Loverboy's Mike Reno too 馃枻馃巶

鈥� raypadgett (@raypadgett11)

While still in school in the early 1970s, Reno joined a cover band called Morning Glory where he played the drums and eventually found his way to the cover band Synergy.

After graduating from Penticton Secondary, Reno moved to Calgary, AB and joined a band called Spunk . Loverboy formed in 1980. They released their first album that year and the band went on to world-wide fame, touring extensively as well as releasing three multi-platinum albums with hits like Turn Me Loose, The Kid Is Hot Tonight and Working For The Weekend.

Reno has also contributed to various movie soundtracks. In 1984, he performed a duet with Ann Wilson of Heart, Almost Paradise for the movie Footloose. With Loverboy, the band contributed Heaven in Your Eyes for the movie Top Gun in 1986.

Loverboy is still touring across North America, and Reno has always played tribute to his hometown. He鈥檚 played Peachfest, and in 2019, Loverboy played to a crowd of 3,000 at the South Okanagan Events Centre.

Wearing a Straight Outta Penticton T-shirt, Reno began the show with Lovin鈥� Every Minute Of It as the local crowd went wild.

The band still contains original members Reno, Paul Dean on guitar, Doug Johnson on keyboards and the energetic Matt Frenette on drums.

After original bassist Scott Smith died in a sailing accident in 2000, the band replaced him with former Streetheart bassist Ken (Spider) Sinnaveve. In the video for Working for the Weekend, Reno is wearing his orange leather pants he became known for.

Penticton continues to celebrate its connection to Reno.

When Match Eatery opened at the casino in 2017, burned into the sides of the tables are quotes with a local flair including lyrics 鈥淚 gotta to do it my way or no way at all鈥� from the Loverboy song Turn Me Loose.

Reno also played at Pen Hi鈥檚 100th anniversary celebration in 2012.

To report a typo, email: editor@pentictonwesternnews.com.

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