LYNN — Before they became Lois Lane and The Daily Planets almost four decades ago, they were nearly Lois Lane and the Clark Kents.
The band has been performing in Lynn since 1980. They most notably became part of the Red Rock Park summer concerts 14 years ago. Lane, who prefers to use her stage name on an everyday basis, has been using the Superman fictional character’s name since she was a child. When trying to start a band of her own, she wanted to keep the spirit of her favorite hero’s story alive.
“I’ve always been called Lois Lane, since Lois is my middle name,” she said. “I think there’s some kind of a magic to it because whenever you hear that name it makes people smile.”
After being fed up with joining bands that couldn’t keep it together, the lead vocalist decided it was time to start her own. During a night out on the town, Lane, a Saugus native, ran into an old friend.
“I was out at a club somewhere in Boston and I was listening to the G Clefs, which was a very popular band back then, when I noticed there was something off about the singer’s voice — sounded as if he had been chain-smoking cigars,” said Lane. “So during a break I went up and began talking to some of the guys, saying how good they were, when I looked up and realized that I knew the bass player.”
Lane told them about her hopes of starting a band and when she asked if they were interested, the talented group of guys jumped right on board. She called up the musicians the next week and they started rehearsals right away.
“So now we are trying to think of what we will call the band and we were in my mother’s kitchen, in Wakefield at the time, going ‘Lois Lane and the Supermen, Lois Lane and the Jimmy
Olsens, Lois Lane and the Clark Kents,’” she said. “Then the keyboard player looked up and said, ‘The Daily Planets,’ and we all just knew that was it.”
The first time they performed together was that same year in Lynn, at an old bar called Scotch Mist on State Street, during a time when live music was all anyone wanted to see. The late owner of the former bar, as well as the old time favorite Blue Moon in the same area, was known for bringing the liveliness to Lynn.
“Everyone knew who Cliff was because he brought so many great live acts to Lynn back in the ’80s,” said Lane.
After a few years of performing at local bars, Lane won a free trip to London from the travel agency she worked for at the time, Tri Travel in Boston. She was excited for the quick getaway until she got a call from a former boyfriend. He and his friend, an anthropologist, were also going to London to study the then up-and-coming punk music scene. Lane quit her band in 1982, left for London, and didn’t come back for three years.
Upon her return to the North Shore, Lane found some new musicians and got a band together. Even though music has always been at the forefront of her mind, Lane still had to pay the bills, go to school, and pay for her new home, which she bought in Lynn in 1990. She received an Associate’s Degree in Developmental Disabilities from North Shore Community College and later returned to teach a nine-week life skills course, through the former Project Access program, for a number of years.
Now Lane is a Direct Support Specialist at Bridgewell, and has been working on a business plan since last September. Partnered with Reach Arts in Swampscott, Lane hopes to open up her first business, Miracles in Music, which would offer a course that teaches those with special needs or disabilities all about music and singing.
“I’ve always had a day job because I’m a homeowner with a musician’s pay so I couldn’t always depend on just that,” she said.
Most residents throughout the city know Lane as a vocal powerhouse, but many of them don’t know how she and her band got their start performing at Red Rock Park. She was a meter maid in the city from 1998 until 2005, which is how she became friendly with the right people. After befriending Liz Puleo, formerly on the board for Friends of Lynn and Nahant Beach, Lane was recommended to the rest of the board to be one of the newest acts to join the Red Rock Park summer concert series in 2004.
“Liz really went out of her way to get me and my band in there,” she said. “We have been performing at Red Rock every year since and it’s really nice because I know everybody down there and I love being a part of this community.”
Not only is Lane the mother to Lois Lane and The Daily Planets, but the singer has dedicated the past 21 years to raising her daughter, Grace Reddy. Over the years, the band has gone through a slew of changes to its bandmates but that never changed the soul of the group. Performing with Lane this year will be Lee Lundy on bass, Peter Fedele on lead guitar, Dave Fuller on drums and Jayo Whorton on the saxophone.
“There’s a lot to be said for longevity, so I must be doing something right because the phone is still ringing and that’s a great feeling,” said Lane. “Miles Davis always said, ‘if you’re not appearing, you’re disappearing,’ and I want to make sure I stay out there because if you go away people forget you.”
