Bachman and Turner return without Overdrive

Half of the members ofWinnipeg-based rock group Bachman-Turner Overdriveare reuniting for an album and world tour.

Agency Paquin Entertainment announced Monday thatRandy Bachman and Fred Turner are back together,confirming what has been rumoured for months.

The pair will play an internationaltour, billing themselves as Bachman & Turner, Paquin said.

The revival will include afeatureda concert at next year's Manitoba Homecoming 2010, a celebration ofthe province's 140th year in Confederation.

A news conference providing tour details, information about an album and the launch of a website is scheduled for Dec. 8 at Paquin's headquarters in Winnipeg.

Churned out hits

During a four-year run in the mid-'70s, Bachman-Turner Overdrive was one of the biggest bands in the world, earninga staggering 120 platinum, gold and silver records, based on a string of hits in more than 20 countries.

The rock quartet reached No. 1 on the Billboard singles and album charts as well as placing a half-dozen more songs in the Top 50, including Takin' Care of Business, You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet, Let It Ride, Roll On Down the Highway, and Hey You.

Bachman, the lead singer and guitarist, had formed BTO after leaving another hugely successful Winnipeg band, the Guess Who.

BTO split up in the mid-'80s, a few years after Bachman left in 1977. Through the years, hekept busy on a solo career, a reunion with the Guess Who, a tour withGuess Who frontmanBurton Cummings, a shift into jazz, and hosting Vinyl Tap on CBC Radio.

'Reunited, Randy Bachman and Fred Turner are offering their legion of fans something new and taking care of some 'unfinished' business.' Paquin Entertainment

Turner, meanwhile, carried on with the other members of BTO before retiring from music at the end of the '90s.

The pair rekindled theirrelationship a few years ago and Turner sang the title track, Rock 'n Roll Is the Only Way Out, on an album that Bachman recorded with various vocalists.

That recent collaborationevolved into something more.

"Reunited, Randy Bachman and Fred Turner are offering their legion of fans something new and taking care of some 'unfinished' business," Paquin Entertainment stated in a news release.

Courtrumble over BTO

They also are in a legal dispute with the other BTO members.Bachman's younger brother, Robin, and Blair Thornton havesued over the rights to the BTO name. The litigationwas launchedin late October in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver.

The suit claims Randy Bachman and Turner signed away their rights to the name and any similar brands when Randy Bachmanleft BTO. Thornton and Robin Bachman claim Randy Bachman's company trademarked the name Bachman-Turner and Bachman-Turner Union in Canada and the United States earlier this year.

The pair claim those names could be confused with the BTO identity.

Their statement of claim asks for an injunction, saying Randy Bachman and Turner are confusing the public and businesses.