NEED TO KNOW
REO Speedwagon singer Terry Luttrell was injured in a car accident
On Sunday, June 15, the singer fell asleep at the wheel, just one day after his band played a farewell show at the State Farm Center in Illinois
Lutrell revealed that he “totaled” his car
REO Speedwagon’s Terry Luttrell miraculously survived a car crash.
On Sunday, June 15, the singer, 78, was injured in an accident after falling asleep at the wheel, per The News-Gazette.
According to the publication, the crash happened just one day after REO Speedwagon played a farewell show, where current and former members of the rock group gathered at the State Farm Center in Illinois.
Michael Putland/Getty
Terry Luttrell in April 1977
“I was able to get up and get out of the car,” Luttrell told The News-Gazette. “The airbag went off and cracked my sternum a little bit.”
He added: “I have a little back pain and neck pain. It’s nothing that can’t be overcome.”
Following the show, Luttrell told the outlet that he was headed to St. Louis for business and didn’t get a lot of sleep before getting behind the wheel. He also had been signing many autographs for fans.
“It was just sign-sign-sign,” he told the outlet.
After signing more autographs for fans at 2 a.m., Luttrell went to bed at 4:30 a.m. before heading back out on the road a few hours later.
While he felt “a little bit sleepy” during the drive, he didn’t think much of it.
“It just happened,” said Luttrell. “I nodded off. I rolled the car over, and I woke up and I was in a cocoon (the airbags).”
According to the musician, his car was “totaled.”
After the incident, Luttrell was taken to the Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana, Ill.
PEOPLE has reached out to Luttrell for comment.
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Luttrell joined REO Speedwagon in 1968, replacing Mike Blair as a vocalist. However, he left the band in 1972 and was replaced with Kevin Cronin.
In September 2024, REO Speedwagon announced in a Facebook post that the band — comprised of Neal Doughty, Kevin Cronin, Bruce Hall, Dave Amato, Bryan Hitt and Matt Bissonnette — announced that they would stop touring in 2025 due to “irreconcilable differences” between frontman Cronin, 73, and bassist Hall, 72.
The announcement came just after REO Speedwagon wrapped their Summer Road Trip tour withTrain.
Read the original article on People
