Randy Bachman is reuniting with former BTO bandmate Fred Turner, while being sued by the other two former members of the 1970s rock group. (Mark Maryanovich)

Half of the members of Winnipeg-based rock group Bachman-Turner Overdrive are reuniting for an album and world tour.

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

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

The revival will include a featured a concert at next year's Manitoba Homecoming 2010, a celebration of the 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, earning a 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, he kept busy on a solo career, a reunion with the Guess Who, a tour with Guess Who frontman Burton 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 their relationship 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 collaboration evolved 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.

Court rumble over BTO

They also are in a legal dispute with the other BTO members. Bachman's younger brother, Robin, and Blair Thornton have sued over the rights to the BTO name. The litigation was launched in 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 Bachman left 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.