This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding bread sauce to reliable sources. Bread was an American soft rock band from Los Angeles, California.

They had 13 songs chart on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1970 and 1977. David Gates was from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Gates knew Leon Russell and both played in bar bands around the Tulsa area. A bread truck came along right at the time we were trying to think of a name.

We had been saying, “How about bush, telephone pole? It began with a B, like the Beatles and the Bee Gees. Bread also had a kind of universal appeal. It could be taken a number of ways.

Of course, for the entire first year people called us the Breads. The group’s first single, “Dismal Day”, was released in June 1969 but did not chart. Their debut album, Bread, was released in September 1969 and peaked at No. The songwriting on the album was split evenly between Gates and the team of Griffin-Royer. On July 25, 1969, Bread appeared in concert for the first time, with Gordon on drums, at the Aquarius Theater in Hollywood, opening for the Flying Burrito Brothers. When Gordon’s schedule conflicted and he proved unavailable for future outings, they brought in Mike Botts as their permanent drummer.

For their next single, Bread released a re-recorded version of “It Don’t Matter To Me”, a Gates song from their first album. This single was a hit as well, reaching No. Royer, after conflicts with other members of the band, left the group in the summer of 1971 after three albums, although he would continue to write with Griffin. In January 1972 Bread released Baby I’m-a Want You, their most successful album, peaking at No. The title song was established as a hit in late 1971 before the album was released, also hitting No. The next album, Guitar Man, was released ten months later and went to No.

By 1973, fatigue from constant recording and touring had set in despite the band’s success, and personal relationships began to show strain, especially between Gates and Griffin. All eleven of Bread’s charting singles between 1970 and 1973 had been written and sung by Gates. Gates and Griffin returned to their solo careers with mixed results. The Best of Bread compilation album from March 1973 was a huge success, peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and staying on the chart for over two years.

The follow-up, The Best of Bread, Volume 2, was released in May 1974 and went to No. The reunion of the group in 1976 came about after Elektra Records expressed interest in another Bread album. Gates, Griffin, Botts and Knechtel returned to the studio that year and recorded Lost Without Your Love, released in January 1977. The title track, again written and sung by Gates, was the band’s last Top 10 hit, peaking at No. 1977 to support their comeback album. After a short break, they commenced the tour’s third leg that summer without Griffin, whom Gates failed to invite after further rising tensions and Griffin’s worsening substance abuse troubles.