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Bonding in Bread was no buttery affair
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Music legends created `Bread'
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David Gates (vocals, guitar, keyboards), James Griffin (vocals, guitar) and Robb Royer (vocals, guitar) as session musicians for Pleasure Faire, had formed the nucleus of Bread. The trio was multi-instrumentalist and their first album in 1969 with drummer Jim Gordon titled Bread met with limited success.
Their agenda was however set out in their mellow, melodic, soft rock feel. Their second offering, On the Waters sowed the seed for a string of gold singles. `Make it with you' scaled the US charts in the summer of 1970. Mike Bott's presence as percussionist became permanent thereafter, as was Royer replaced by veteran keyboardist Larry Knechtel.
More hits followed in Manna and Baby It don't matter to me, Baby I'm a want you (No. 3), If (No. 4) and Everything I own (No. 5) as was Guitar Man (No. 11) popular. After half a dozen gold albums and three years together, Bread broke up in 1973, hostility between Gates and Griffin being the cause. The Best of Bread in 1973 and The Best of Bread Vol. 2 in 1974 were well received.
Briefly reuniting in 1976, they churned out their seventh gold album before the next rift. The legal battle continued until 1984, during which they were prohibited from performing, recording or even collecting royalties. Another reunion of Gates, Griffin, Botts and Knechtel took place in 1997 on a 25th anniversary tour. Botts retreated to writing ad jingles and children's music while Griffin succumbed to cancer in January 2005.
In the 1990s, the band's work was seen as being too mushy and its popularity waned in the US, but continued to sell in Europe and South East Asia. Their place in the pantheon of rock greats cannot however be denied.
A. GEORGE ANTONY
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