Remember David Gates, Who Led the ’70s Soft-Rock Group Bread?
by Best Classic Bands Staff
David Gates is at far R
If you were listening to Top 40 radio in the U.S. throughout the ’70s, chances are you’d hear a song by the band with the bland name Bread. The group, fronted by David Gates, their songwriter, producer and primary guitarist and vocalist, earned six Top 10 singles on the Hot 100 including the soft-rock favorites “Baby I’m-a Want You,” “If” and the 1970 #1 hit, “Make It With You.”
Gates, a multi-instrumentalist who also played keyboards and percussion, founded the popular group in Los Angeles in 1968 as a vehicle for singing his own songs. He wrote most of their trademark hits including “The Guitar Man,” “It Don’t Matter To Me” and “Lost Without Your Love.”
Gates was born December 11, 1940, the son of musicians in Tulsa, Okla. His first band, the Accents, included a piano player, Claude Russell Bridges, who later changed his name to Leon Russell. Gates received his first break when the band performed with Chuck Berry. Gates married his high school sweetheart, Jo Rita, in 1959.
In 1961, the family moved to Los Angeles, where Gates pursued a career in music, initially working as a studio musician and writing songs. His first significant songwriting accomplishment arrived in early 1964 when the Murmaids earned a #3 single with his song, “Popsicles and Icicles.” As the decade continued, Gates released several singles on his own and collaborated with many stars, including Elvis Presley and Bobby Darin.
In 1968, he teamed with Robb Royer and Jimmy Griffin to form Bread and soon signed with Elektra Records, their home throughout their career. Their 1969 self-titled debut, recorded with session drummers Jim Gordon and Ron Edgar, was a modest success. Later that year, Mike Botts joined as their permanent drummer.
Their second album became a legitimate success, reaching #12 in the U.S., thanks to the ballad “Make It With You,” which topped the pop singles chart in 1970.
This dull as dishwater ad in the June 27, 1970 issue of Record World didn’t do much to offer a face behind the music
A song from their first album, “It Don’t Matter To Me,” was re-recorded and also became a significant hit, reaching #10. In 1971, Royer departed and was replaced by Larry Knechtel, a member of the Los Angeles-based studio musicians collective The Wrecking Crew.
Bread recorded six studio albums, five of which went gold. Their 1972 release, Baby I’m-A Want You, was one of the year’s top sellers, alongside such rock superstars as Led Zeppelin, Elton John and Rod Stewart. A March 1973 compilation album, The Best of Bread, has been certified 5x platinum. The group initially disbanded that year but reunited several times later that decade. Bread’s career neatly parallels America and the Carpenters, other soft-rock groups of that era.
This ad for The Best of Bread appeared in the March 31, 1973 issue of Record World
As a solo artist, Gates charted many singles. His biggest was the top 15 title track to the 1977 romantic comedy-drama The Goodbye Girl.
Gates was joined on a reunion tour in 1996-97 by Griffin, Botts and Knechtel. He retired, thanks to the, er, bread from his royalties, to become a rancher in northern California. “I really did drop out and really wanted to do it… to jump right in and do a complete job as a cattle rancher,” he told an interviewer in 2003. “It took five or six years to accomplish the goals I set for myself. I couldn’t do music at the same time.
“My records are still being played around the world and maybe they are somewhat timeless in that you can hear them over and over and not get tired of them. And there’s no one writing anything quite like that now.”
Gates is the sole surviving member from their heyday. Bread’s Best of album is available here.
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12 Comments so far
Jump into a conversationAnyone who thinks Bread only did soft rock numbers should check out the “Anthology” collection. They were just as capable of rocking out, though those didn’t get released as singles.
For instance, “Mother Freedom” from ’72!
Saw David and Bread several years ago in Thousand Oaks. The concert was excellent !!
Good songs and doesn’t matter how you categorize Bread. David Gates worked with the best!
It was released without too much fanfare but David Gates recorded a solo country oriented album in 1993 or 94 called Love is Always Seventeen.
Oddly enough, one of my favorite Bread songs was one of their rockers, “Mother Freedom”. But I still think “The Guitar Man” is the best song Gates wrote, with some great guitar provided by Larry Knechtel.
“Let your love go” was always my favorite.
In 1972 I was a sophomore in college and Bread played at our campus. My folks, along with my two brothers, visited and attended the concert with me. After the concert my Dad said he wanted a cup of coffee and piece of pie. We went to hole in the wall coffee shop and there sat David Gates with members of the band. They were dressed in the same clothes they performed in. We said hello and complimented them on the concert. He and the others couldn’t have been nicer.
David Gates did a solo tour backed by a wonderful string section in 2006. We saw this at a small room at Mohegan Sun in CT. An incredible evening. Just wish the concert would be made available to us fans.
Robb Royer, Original Bread member is also still alive.
Bread was the ultimate spin the bottle band as I remember playing it in eighth grade with baby I’m a want you in the background.. chicks dug it ha ha
Larry played the piano introduction for “Bridge Over Troubled Water, also. That was amazing talent!