User:Szablewskij/sandbox

Background

Lou Rera was born in Buffalo, New York on February 28, 1950. He is the oldest of six children. He attended Cleveland Hill High School where he graduated in 1968. Rera later attended Buffalo State college where he majored in Arts Education and graduated in 1973 with a Bachelors Degree. He was hired by taught Middle School art classes at Allendale Junior High School in West Seneca from 1973­ - 1977.

Enjoying the fine arts but wishing to pursue a career in a different artistic field where he could express himself, Rera resigned his teaching position and traveled to Los Angeles where he would work toward pursing a career in music 1978.

Early Music

Lou Rera and his band 'The Pacers' (Bill Shaver, Gary LoBene and James Knobloch) recorded one of their early original music composition as a single on Rera’s birthday, February 28, 1968 at Act One Studios in Buffalo, New York. Act One was owned by the President and General Manager of WBEN Broadcasting, Clint Buehlman.

In the early 1970’s Rera teamed up with musician and songwriter, Bill (William) Torrico and together they wrote and recorded music under the band, 'Blade' at Trackmaster Recording Studios, owned by Alan Baumgardner. After changing the band's name to 'Flyer' the two began to receive recognition from music industry professionals; Flip Black of the American Song Festival and Jimmy Ienner, pop music producer of bands like The Raspberries (Eric Carmen), Bay City Rollers, and Three Dog Night to name a few.

In 1976, Lou Rera and Bill Torrico signed a publishing contract with Peer Southern Music in the U.K. and worked briefly with Barry Kingston to produce tracks in NYC. The tracks however were not released.

In 1978, 'Flyer' signed a recording contract with Lenny Silver of Amherst Records. The album was to be released under the MCA/Infinity label (INF 9021). Following the album's release, the band moved to Los Angeles to work on their debut album. Producer Larry Emerine assembled some of the top names in studio recording to work on the album: Jeff Porcaro, David Paich, Burton Cummings, Ira Newborn, Bob Esty and Dan Wyman of Sound Arts. The resulting album, titled, 'Send A Little Love My Way' with a single of the same name, was a top Billboard Magazine pick in 1979.