Top-Rated Speakers Bureau and Entertainment Booking Agency for Corporate Meetings and Business Events. Book an AAE Speaker Today.
Top-Rated Speakers Bureau and Entertainment Booking Agency for Corporate Meetings and Business Events. Book an AAE Speaker Today.
Click to Open Search Bar

Cheap Trick

American Rock Band Known for "Surrender" and "I Want You to Want Me"

REQUEST BOOKING INFORMATION

Cheap Trick Biography

The enduring, hard-touring, and self-caricaturing rock group Cheap Trick worked its way up to platinum sales with a blend of Beatles-style pop, hard rock chops, and a cartoonish stage act, which played Rick Nielsen's exaggerated mugging and guitar gymnastics against Robin Zander's teen-idol looks and rich, powerful voice.

In 1961 Nielsen, then in his teens, began playing locally in Rockford, Illinois, utilizing his ever-increasing collection of rare and valuable guitars. His band, the Phaetons, became the Boyz, then the Grim Reapers, and finally Fuse in 1967 with the addition of bassist Tom Petersson. One album for Epic in 1968 was generally ignored. Frustrated, Fuse, which by then included college dropout Bun E. Carlos on drums, moved to Philadelphia in 1971. As Sick Man of Europe, they enlisted ex-Nazz vocalist Robert "Stewkey" Antoni, but the group soon disbanded. After a year in Europe, Nielsen and Petersson returned to Rockford, reunited with Carlos, and a few months later asked folkie vocalist Zander to join the group they named Cheap Trick. Midwestern booking agent Ken Adamany, who had played in one of Steve Miller's high school bands, became their manager. Adamany encouraged them to develop their stage show, and Cheap Trick toured incessantly over the next several years, playing an average of 250 shows a year, opening for Kiss, the Kinks, Santana, Boston, and others.

Cheap Trick's early releases were only moderately successful in the U.S.; its 1977 debut sold 150,000 copies, while In Color and Heaven Tonight failed to crack the Top 40. In Japan, however, all three had gone gold, and the group's initial tour there in early 1978 met with hysteria reminiscent of Beatlemania. During that visit Cheap Trick recorded At Budokan, which went triple platinum in the States largely on the strength of their single "I Want You to Want Me" (Number Seven, 1979), a song that had originally appeared on In Color.

By the timeDream Police (Number Six) was released in fall 1979, the band was headlining arenas and stadiums. All Shook Up (1980), produced by George Martin, went gold in late 1980 but was considered a disappointment, producing no Top 40 singles. The band contributed "Everything Works If You Let It" (Number 44, 1980) to the Roadie< soundtrack that year, and Nielsen and Carlos played on John Lennon and Yoko Ono's recording sessions for Double Fantasy. (They appear on The Lost Lennon Tapes and "I'm Losing You.")

As the 1980s dawned, the group's activities slowed considerably. In 1981 Epic rejected an LP, and after a flurry of lawsuits and countersuits, Cheap Trick began recording One on One. Petersson departed in 1980 to form a group with his wife, Dagmar, as vocalist. He recorded an LP in 1982, but Epic refused to release it. Pete Comita replaced him, but was himself replaced by Jon Brant before the recording of One on One (Number 39, 1982), which included two minor hits, "If You Want My Love" (Number 45, 1982) and "She's Tight" (Number 65, 1982), and eventually went gold.

Cheap Trick's fortunes began to wane with the release of Next Position Please (Number 61, 1983), produced by Todd Rundgren. Neither it nor the group's next two albums went gold, although 1985's Standing on the Edge (Number 35) contained its strongest material since Heaven Tonight. 1986's The Doctor failed to crack the Top 100, and the quartet's future seemed in jeopardy.

Petersson rejoined in 1987, and in 1988 Lap of Luxury (Number 16) was a surprise hit. The hard-rock ballad "The Flame" gave the group its first Number One single, a version of "Don't Be Cruel" (Number Four) became the first Elvis Presley cover to hit the Top Ten since the singer's death, and "Ghost Town" reached Number 33. Just as inexplicably, the band's next album, Busted (Number 48, 1990), stiffed. "Can't Stop Fallin' Into Love" (Number 12) did go Top 20. Aside from a solo album from Zander, and a duet he recorded with Heart's Ann Wilson, "Surrender to Me" (Number Six, 1988), Cheap Trick maintained a low profile until 1994's Woke Up With a Monster (Number 123, 1994), its first and only album for Warner Bros. In 1996 Epic/Legacy anthologized the band's music with a four-CD box set, Sex America Cheap Trick.

Cheap Trick was hardly finished. The band enjoyed yet another triumphant return, in 1997, when it went back to the basics, releasing its 14th album of new material on the indie label Red Ant. Cheap Trick staged a series of club gigs that year in which the band performed each of its first three albums from start to finish on three consecutive evenings. Music for Hangovers is a live album compiled from the series. By the end of the millennium Cheap Trick was still performing more than 200 shows a year. In 2000 Petersson collaborated on an album with Ken Coomer of Wilco and Robert Reynolds of the Mavericks. Swag (the band's name as well) was released in conjunction with a brief tour by Swag in 2001.

In 2001, the band released Silver, a live album recorded during a 1999 25th-anniversary show in Rockford, Illinois; it was followed by two studio albums, Special One (Number 128, 2003) and Rockford (Number 101, 2006) for newly established independent label Big 3 Records. In November 2006, "Surrender" appeared in the best-selling Guitar Hero II video game, and Cheap Trick's "Baby Muggles" is the theme music for Comedy Central's The Colbert Report. Through the fall of 2008 Cheap Trick toured nationally with Heart and Journey and finished out the year playing in Australia with Def Leppard.

Videos
FAQs
  • How do I book Cheap Trick to speak at my event?

    Our experienced booking agents have successfully helped clients around the world secure speakers like Cheap Trick for speaking engagements, personal appearances, product endorsements, or corporate entertainment since 2002. Click the Check Availability button above and complete the form on this page to check availability for Cheap Trick, or call our office at 1.800.698.2536 to discuss your upcoming event. One of our experienced agents will be happy to help you get speaking fee information and check availability for Cheap Trick or any other speaker of your choice.
  • What are the speaker fees for Cheap Trick

    Speaking fees for Cheap Trick, or any other speakers and celebrities, are determined based on a number of factors and may change without notice. The estimated fees to book Cheap Trick are available upon request for live events and available upon request for virtual events. For the most current speaking fee to hire Cheap Trick, click the Check Availability button above and complete the form on this page, or call our office at 1.800.698.2536 to speak directly with an experienced booking agent.
  • What topics does Cheap Trick speak about?

    Cheap Trick is a keynote speaker and industry expert whose speaking topics include Arts & Humanities, Entertainment, Music.
  • Where does Cheap Trick travel from?

    Cheap Trick generally travels from an undisclosed location, but can be booked for private corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. For more details, please contact an AAE Booking agent.
  • Who is Cheap Trick’s agent?

    AAE Speakers Bureau has successfully booked keynote speakers like Cheap Trick for clients worldwide since 2002. As a full-service speaker booking agency, we have access to virtually any speaker or celebrity in the world. Our agents are happy and able to submit an offer to the speaker or celebrity of your choice, letting you benefit from our reputation and long-standing relationships in the industry. Please click the Check Availability button above and complete the form on this page including the details of your event, or call our office at 1.800.698.2536, and one of our agents will assist you to book Cheap Trick for your next private or corporate function.
  • What is a full-service speaker booking agency?

    AAE Speakers Bureau is a full-service speaker booking agency, meaning we can completely manage the speaker’s or celebrity’s engagement with your organization from the time of booking your speaker through the event’s completion. We provide all of the services you need to host Cheap Trick or any other speaker of your choice, including offer negotiation, contractual assistance, accounting and billing, and event speaker travel and logistics services. When you book a speaker with us, we manage the process of hosting a speaker for you as an extension of your team. Our goal is to give our clients peace of mind and a best-in-class service experience when booking a speaker with us.
  • Why is AAE Speakers Bureau different from other booking agencies?

    If you’re looking for the best, unbiased speaker recommendations, paired with a top-notch customer service experience, you’re in the right place. At AAE Speakers Bureau, we exclusively represent the interests of our clients - professional organizations, companies, universities, and associations. We intentionally do not represent the speakers we feature or book. That is so we can present our clients with the broadest and best performing set of speaker options in the market today, and we can make these recommendations without any obligation to promote a specific speaker over another. This is why when our agents suggest a speaker for your event, you can be assured that they are of the highest quality with a history of proven success with our other clients.
Check Availability

Tell us about your event!

During normal business hours, we respond to most inquiries within 4 hours.

Users also viewed these speakers:

This website is a resource for event professionals and strives to provide the most comprehensive catalog of thought leaders and industry experts to consider for speaking engagements. A listing or profile on this website does not imply an agency affiliation or endorsement by the talent.

All American Entertainment (AAE) exclusively represents the interests of talent buyers, and does not claim to be the agency or management for any speaker or artist on this site. AAE is a talent booking agency for paid events only. We do not handle requests for donation of time or media requests for interviews, and cannot provide celebrity contact information.

If you are the talent and wish to request a profile update or removal from our online directory, please submit a profile request form.

American Rock Band Known for "Surrender" and "I Want You to Want Me"

Travels From:
Speaking Fee:

Cheap Trick Biography

The enduring, hard-touring, and self-caricaturing rock group Cheap Trick worked its way up to platinum sales with a blend of Beatles-style pop, hard rock chops, and a cartoonish stage act, which played Rick Nielsen's exaggerated mugging and guitar gymnastics against Robin Zander's teen-idol looks and rich, powerful voice.

In 1961 Nielsen, then in his teens, began playing locally in Rockford, Illinois, utilizing his ever-increasing collection of rare and valuable guitars. His band, the Phaetons, became the Boyz, then the Grim Reapers, and finally Fuse in 1967 with the addition of bassist Tom Petersson. One album for Epic in 1968 was generally ignored. Frustrated, Fuse, which by then included college dropout Bun E. Carlos on drums, moved to Philadelphia in 1971. As Sick Man of Europe, they enlisted ex-Nazz vocalist Robert "Stewkey" Antoni, but the group soon disbanded. After a year in Europe, Nielsen and Petersson returned to Rockford, reunited with Carlos, and a few months later asked folkie vocalist Zander to join the group they named Cheap Trick. Midwestern booking agent Ken Adamany, who had played in one of Steve Miller's high school bands, became their manager. Adamany encouraged them to develop their stage show, and Cheap Trick toured incessantly over the next several years, playing an average of 250 shows a year, opening for Kiss, the Kinks, Santana, Boston, and others.

Cheap Trick's early releases were only moderately successful in the U.S.; its 1977 debut sold 150,000 copies, while In Color and Heaven Tonight failed to crack the Top 40. In Japan, however, all three had gone gold, and the group's initial tour there in early 1978 met with hysteria reminiscent of Beatlemania. During that visit Cheap Trick recorded At Budokan, which went triple platinum in the States largely on the strength of their single "I Want You to Want Me" (Number Seven, 1979), a song that had originally appeared on In Color.

By the timeDream Police (Number Six) was released in fall 1979, the band was headlining arenas and stadiums. All Shook Up (1980), produced by George Martin, went gold in late 1980 but was considered a disappointment, producing no Top 40 singles. The band contributed "Everything Works If You Let It" (Number 44, 1980) to the Roadie< soundtrack that year, and Nielsen and Carlos played on John Lennon and Yoko Ono's recording sessions for Double Fantasy. (They appear on The Lost Lennon Tapes and "I'm Losing You.")

As the 1980s dawned, the group's activities slowed considerably. In 1981 Epic rejected an LP, and after a flurry of lawsuits and countersuits, Cheap Trick began recording One on One. Petersson departed in 1980 to form a group with his wife, Dagmar, as vocalist. He recorded an LP in 1982, but Epic refused to release it. Pete Comita replaced him, but was himself replaced by Jon Brant before the recording of One on One (Number 39, 1982), which included two minor hits, "If You Want My Love" (Number 45, 1982) and "She's Tight" (Number 65, 1982), and eventually went gold.

Cheap Trick's fortunes began to wane with the release of Next Position Please (Number 61, 1983), produced by Todd Rundgren. Neither it nor the group's next two albums went gold, although 1985's Standing on the Edge (Number 35) contained its strongest material since Heaven Tonight. 1986's The Doctor failed to crack the Top 100, and the quartet's future seemed in jeopardy.

Petersson rejoined in 1987, and in 1988 Lap of Luxury (Number 16) was a surprise hit. The hard-rock ballad "The Flame" gave the group its first Number One single, a version of "Don't Be Cruel" (Number Four) became the first Elvis Presley cover to hit the Top Ten since the singer's death, and "Ghost Town" reached Number 33. Just as inexplicably, the band's next album, Busted (Number 48, 1990), stiffed. "Can't Stop Fallin' Into Love" (Number 12) did go Top 20. Aside from a solo album from Zander, and a duet he recorded with Heart's Ann Wilson, "Surrender to Me" (Number Six, 1988), Cheap Trick maintained a low profile until 1994's Woke Up With a Monster (Number 123, 1994), its first and only album for Warner Bros. In 1996 Epic/Legacy anthologized the band's music with a four-CD box set, Sex America Cheap Trick.

Cheap Trick was hardly finished. The band enjoyed yet another triumphant return, in 1997, when it went back to the basics, releasing its 14th album of new material on the indie label Red Ant. Cheap Trick staged a series of club gigs that year in which the band performed each of its first three albums from start to finish on three consecutive evenings. Music for Hangovers is a live album compiled from the series. By the end of the millennium Cheap Trick was still performing more than 200 shows a year. In 2000 Petersson collaborated on an album with Ken Coomer of Wilco and Robert Reynolds of the Mavericks. Swag (the band's name as well) was released in conjunction with a brief tour by Swag in 2001.

In 2001, the band released Silver, a live album recorded during a 1999 25th-anniversary show in Rockford, Illinois; it was followed by two studio albums, Special One (Number 128, 2003) and Rockford (Number 101, 2006) for newly established independent label Big 3 Records. In November 2006, "Surrender" appeared in the best-selling Guitar Hero II video game, and Cheap Trick's "Baby Muggles" is the theme music for Comedy Central's The Colbert Report. Through the fall of 2008 Cheap Trick toured nationally with Heart and Journey and finished out the year playing in Australia with Def Leppard.

Cheap Trick Videos

  • Cheap Trick - Surrender - YouTube
  • Cheap Trick - Dream Police - YouTube
  • Cheap Trick - Long Time Coming (Static Version) - YouTube

FAQs on booking Cheap Trick

  • How do I book Cheap Trick to speak at my event?

    Our experienced booking agents have successfully helped clients around the world secure speakers like Cheap Trick for speaking engagements, personal appearances, product endorsements, or corporate entertainment since 2002. Click the Check Availability button above and complete the form on this page to check availability for Cheap Trick, or call our office at 1.800.698.2536 to discuss your upcoming event. One of our experienced agents will be happy to help you get speaking fee information and check availability for Cheap Trick or any other speaker of your choice.
  • What are the speaker fees for Cheap Trick

    Speaking fees for Cheap Trick, or any other speakers and celebrities, are determined based on a number of factors and may change without notice. The estimated fees to book Cheap Trick are available upon request for live events and available upon request for virtual events. For the most current speaking fee to hire Cheap Trick, click the Check Availability button above and complete the form on this page, or call our office at 1.800.698.2536 to speak directly with an experienced booking agent.
  • What topics does Cheap Trick speak about?

    Cheap Trick is a keynote speaker and industry expert whose speaking topics include Arts & Humanities, Entertainment, Music.
  • Where does Cheap Trick travel from?

    Cheap Trick generally travels from an undisclosed location, but can be booked for private corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. For more details, please contact an AAE Booking agent.
  • Who is Cheap Trick’s agent?

    AAE Speakers Bureau has successfully booked keynote speakers like Cheap Trick for clients worldwide since 2002. As a full-service speaker booking agency, we have access to virtually any speaker or celebrity in the world. Our agents are happy and able to submit an offer to the speaker or celebrity of your choice, letting you benefit from our reputation and long-standing relationships in the industry. Please click the Check Availability button above and complete the form on this page including the details of your event, or call our office at 1.800.698.2536, and one of our agents will assist you to book Cheap Trick for your next private or corporate function.
  • What is a full-service speaker booking agency?

    AAE Speakers Bureau is a full-service speaker booking agency, meaning we can completely manage the speaker’s or celebrity’s engagement with your organization from the time of booking your speaker through the event’s completion. We provide all of the services you need to host Cheap Trick or any other speaker of your choice, including offer negotiation, contractual assistance, accounting and billing, and event speaker travel and logistics services. When you book a speaker with us, we manage the process of hosting a speaker for you as an extension of your team. Our goal is to give our clients peace of mind and a best-in-class service experience when booking a speaker with us.
  • Why is AAE Speakers Bureau different from other booking agencies?

    If you’re looking for the best, unbiased speaker recommendations, paired with a top-notch customer service experience, you’re in the right place. At AAE Speakers Bureau, we exclusively represent the interests of our clients - professional organizations, companies, universities, and associations. We intentionally do not represent the speakers we feature or book. That is so we can present our clients with the broadest and best performing set of speaker options in the market today, and we can make these recommendations without any obligation to promote a specific speaker over another. This is why when our agents suggest a speaker for your event, you can be assured that they are of the highest quality with a history of proven success with our other clients.

Cheap Trick is a keynote speaker and industry expert who speaks on a wide range of topics . The estimated speaking fee range to book Cheap Trick for your event is available upon request. Cheap Trick generally travels from and can be booked for (private) corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. Similar motivational celebrity speakers are The Wallflowers, Neon Trees, Salt-N-Pepa, Jordin Sparks and Gavin DeGraw. Contact All American Speakers for ratings, reviews, videos and information on scheduling Cheap Trick for an upcoming live or virtual event.

Cheap Trick Speaker Videos

  • Cheap Trick - Surrender - YouTube
    Cheap Trick - Dream Police - YouTube
  • Cheap Trick - Long Time Coming (Static Version) - YouTube
    Cheap Trick - I want you to want me 1979 - YouTube

Tell us about your event!

During normal business hours, we respond to most inquiries within 4 hours.

  • Customized Service

    Our agents find the right fit for your event

  • Unparalleled Database

    Full access to all speakers & celebrities

  • One Stop Shopping

    A reliable and unbiased point of contact

  • Logistics Management

    Your personal Logistics Manager who takes care of all event details

Speakers Similar to Cheap Trick

This website is a resource for event professionals and strives to provide the most comprehensive catalog of thought leaders and industry experts to consider for speaking engagements. A listing or profile on this website does not imply an agency affiliation or endorsement by the talent.

All American Entertainment (AAE) exclusively represents the interests of talent buyers, and does not claim to be the agency or management for any speaker or artist on this site. AAE is a talent booking agency for paid events only. We do not handle requests for donation of time or media requests for interviews, and cannot provide celebrity contact information.

If you are the talent and wish to request a profile update or removal from our online directory, please submit a profile request form.

TOP