It’d be tough to accuse the multi-award-winning rock band Chicago of resting on its laurels. Not that anyone would blame the band members if they did. With more than 100 million in record sales, 21 top 10 singles, five consecutive No. 1 albums and a host of other successes spanning five decades, the band’s legacy has long been set. That’s what makes the modesty of original member Lee Loughnane — one of four of the band’s original seven members still in the group — especially poignant.
“People have a perception of me because I’m on stage. They think I’m something different, maybe special, and that’s undeserved,” said the instrumentalist. “You do your job and I do my job. I’m just on a stage.”
| Onstage |
| Chicago |
| When: 8 p.m. Tuesday |
| Where: Wolf Trap Center for the Performing Arts, Filene Center, 1645 Trap Road, Vienna |
| Info: $30 to $45; 877-WOLFTRAP; wolftrap.org |
Ever since DePaul University students formed the band in the mid-1960s, the group’s refusal to emphasize celebrity over music has cost them some well-deserved critical acclaim, according to William Ruhlmann of All Music Guide. Yet that hasn’t stopped the band from taking its blend of classical, jazz, R&B, pop and rock sounds right up the ladder to popular success, ranking just after the Beach Boys as the most successful American rock band of all time, according to Billboard.
The band has stretched well beyond conventional rock boundaries, too, recording holiday albums including “Chicago XXXIII: O Christmas Three,” scheduled for October release, and “Chicago ÁExitos!” — a Latin music project involving 12 of the band’s hits.
Looking back through the decades, Loughnane still sounds a bit surprised that the band achieved and maintained its level of success.
“It’s just inexplicable how we can still be doing this 44 years later,” he said, noting that when the band first started playing bars and clubs, owners only wanted them to play covers. “At the same time, we look at it and we still love playing as much as when we first started.”
And play they do, keeping a full tour schedule while recording as they travel. Although the band has one of the deepest catalogs in pop history, Loughnane said he and his band mates still enjoy playing “Saturday in the Park,” “25 or 6 to 4” and other fan favorites for the crowds.
“As the music was written, we had no idea that some of the songs would resonate so completely with our audiences … and many age groups,” he said. “You write a song, you hope it will last, but many, many songs aren’t able to weather the test of time. … Every time we play [fan favorites] we can pretty much see [the audience] go back in time to when they first heard it. Then it’s up to us to play it well and give them a really good time.
“These songs have never gotten any easier to play. That’s another thing that keeps us going.”
