Chapter 4 – Summer Of 1980

Love Affair – spring 1980

The first album was released in June and debuted on WMMS-FM in their Top Twenty-LP chart. By the second week, the album was on some 140 stations around the country. With all of the momentum of a debut release from the “Rock And Roll Capitol of The World,” Love Affair was well on its way to becoming the “next big thing.” Wherever the single, “Mama Sez” was played around the country, it became a Top Ten item. Aside from great reviews in Cleveland publications (The Plain Dealer, The Press and The Scene), some national magazines such as Tiger Beat, 16 Magazine and Teen Beat were hailing the young lions of Love Affair as future pop stars. However, even as fate was smiling on them, other forces were conspiring to prevent the quintet from achieving continued success.

While the group was busy doing all of the obligatory professional gigs in the Midwest, they had put their fate in the hands of others and would soon discover that they were no longer in control of their own destiny. So, while the guys were playing to sold-out venues in Ohio and doing radio broadcasts wherever they went, the music business machinery they were now connected to was beginning to decide what their next move would be. “While we were in Texas, just after Thanksgiving, Otto called to tell us that Radio Records wanted us to do pre-production for the second album in January and record it in February. We hadn’t even thought about the next album because we were so busy; the year had gone by so quick,” Richard explains.

Love Affair – New York City Summer 1980

When Love Affair came home to Cleveland for the Christmas holidays, they were scheduled to take their first vacation ever. But when manager Otto Neuber got the brainstorm to re-record “Mama Sez” as a tribute to Cleveland Browns quarterback Brian Sipe (because the team was in the Playoffs that year), a reluctant band went along with his whim. The band (minus guitarist Wes because he was out of town) recorded “Brian Sez” in one day and it was on every radio station in Northeast Ohio that evening. It was further proof that the band was at its creative peak and was able to achieve almost anything they worked at. However, as they began to prepare material for their sophomore effort, pressure was beginning to build.

previous chapter | next chapter