Bread - Make It with You

Thank you, my friend SGT (Join to see) for honoring American singer-songwriter, musician and producer, David Ashworth Gates on the anniversary of his birth on December 11, 1940. He is probably "best known as the co-lead singer of the group Bread, who scored the 1970 US No.1 & UK No.5 single 'Make It With You'. His song 'Popsicles and Icicles' hit No.3 on the US chart for The Murmaids in January 1964 and The Monkees recorded another of his songs, 'Saturday's Child'."
Happy 79th birthday David Gates!

Q&A session with David Gates
Bread fan gathering 2016 at Mt Vernon, WA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP7zWWPsdis

Images:
1. David Ashworth Gates (born December 11, 1940) is an American singer-songwriter, musician and producer, best known as the frontman and co-lead singer (with Jimmy Griffin) of the group Bread, which reached the tops of the musical charts in Europe and North America on several occasions in the 1970s. The band was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame.
2. David Gates 1975
3. 1970 Bread: David Gates (vocals, bass guitar, guitar, keyboards, violin, viola, percussion), Jimmy Griffin (vocals, guitar, keyboards, percussion) and Robb Royer (bass guitar, guitar, flute, keyboards, percussion,backing vocals).

Biographies
1. allmusic.com/artist/david-gates-mn [login to see] /biography
2. mentalitch.com/introduction-to-david-gates/

1. Background from allmusic.com/artist/david-gates-mn [login to see] /biography
'Artist Biography by Kim Summers
A member of the popular late-'60s/early-'70s soft rock group Bread, David Gates is also a songwriter, keyboardist, vocalist, and producer. His first hit as a songwriter came with the popular Murmaids song "Popsicles and Icicles." Gates was born in Tulsa, OK, to a band director and a piano teacher. Surrounded by music from birth, he was proficient in piano, bass, and guitar by the time he was in high school. In 1957, he received a musical break when Chuck Berry came to Tulsa; Gates had his first hit, "Jo-Baby," with Chuck Berry. The song was written for Gates' high-school sweetheart, Jo Rita, whom he married and had children with while enrolled at the University of Oklahoma. In 1961, the family moved to Los Angeles, and Gates embarked on a career of songwriting and producing. By the end of the '60s, he had worked with Elvis Presley, Bobby Darin, and Merle Haggard, and produced the 1965 Glenn Yarbrough hit "Baby the Rain Must Fall."
Realizing that the only way his songs were sure to be recorded was to sing them himself, Gates founded Bread in 1968; the group consisted of Gates, James Griffin, Robb Royer, and later, drummer Michael Botts and keyboardist Larry Knechtel. The group's first album, Bread, was released in 1969 and featured the hits "It Don't Matter to Me" and "Dismal Day," while their second album On The Waters featured "Make It with You." Soft rock hits became Bread's trademark and made them legends. Greater success and recognition came with the 1971 album Manna, which included the smash hit "If." Following the popular albums Guitar Man and Baby, I'm-a Want You, the group's success led the bandmembers in different directions, and they pursued their own solo interests and careers after the breakup of Bread in 1973, but the band regrouped in 1977 to issue the album Lost Without Your Love.
David Gates had released albums of his own during the '70s, First in 1973 and Never Let Her Go in 1975, and his songs -- including "The Goodbye Girl" from Neil Simon's play of the same name -- landed him on the contemporary music charts. Several of his songs have also been recorded by other artists ranging from Julio Iglesias to pop/rocker Boy George. "Everything I Own," a tribute to his father as his greatest influence, was recorded by Nashville artists the Kendalls and Joe Stampley and then by Boy George. His consistent songwriting ability demonstrates versatility while crossing over musical genres. With a recording studio on his California ranch, David Gates has continued to write and produce. He issued Love Is Always Seventeen on the Discovery Records label in 1994, and the new millennium saw the release of The David Gates Songbook, an Elektra best-of collection of Bread hits, Gates solo material, and four new songs, in 2002.

Background from mentalitch.com/introduction-to-david-gates/
A short summary on David Gates:
David Gates (born in 1940 in Tulsa, Oklahoma) is an American singer­ songwriter and musician best known as the lead singer of the soft-­rock band Bread, which achieved success in the 70s music era. The musically­ talented Gates, together with Jimmy Griffin, Robb Royer and Larry Knetchel (drummer Mike Botts would later join) formed Bread in the late 1960s. In the 1970s Bread attained chart successes namely through the singles “Make It With You,” “If,” “Baby I’m­ A Want You,” and “Everything I Own” which have become oldies music favorites. Gates also started his solo career in 1973, starting off with his debut album First, whose single

“Clouds” peaked at #47 on the Hot 100 and #3 on the adult contemporary singles chart. His most successful solo single to date was 1977’s “Goodbye Girl,” which was also the theme song to the hit 1977 motion picture of the same title. Goodbye Girl was also the name of Gates’ third album in 1978 which reached #165 on the Billboard 200 album chart. Gates and Bread split in 1977, and staged their final reunion in 1996. Griffin, Knetchel, and Botts had all passed away, leaving only Gates and Royer as the surviving members of Bread.
From a “Bread” maker to solo star
The musically prolific David Gates was born David Ashworth Gates in Tulsa, Oklahoma on December 11, 1940. Music seems to be running in the family, as his father was a band director and played the piano.

Gates learned to play piano, guitar and bass guitar proficiently, and when he was in high school he began to perform in local bands. One of his earliest big breaks came when his band backed Chuck Berry when the rock and roll guitar virtuoso performed in Tulsa.

One of Gates’ earliest known songs he’d written was “Jo Rita,”, a single released locally. He wrote this song for his childhood sweetheart, whom he married by the time he entered university.

Gates and his family moved to Los Angeles, California in 1961, while Gates continued to pursue a career in music. He started in the industry by being a music copyist, songwriter and producer.

Soon he slowly realized success that was coming by his way as a songwriter. He provided the pop group The Murmaids with their only hit “Popsicles and Icicles,” which went to Top Ten in 1963. He also wrote songs and produced records for other acts such as The Monkees, Girlfriends, Brenda Lee, Nino Temp & April Stevens, Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band, Underground Sunshine, Mark Lindsay, and many others. Gates also worked with legends such as Elvis Presley and Bobby Darin. He arranged and produced the single “Baby, The Rain Must Fall” which brought a hit for folk singer Glenn Yarbrough in 1965. He continued to write songs for other artists even as he had formed Bread.

Gates had wanted to get his own songs recorded, so he formed Bread with James Griffin and Rob Royer in the late 1960s. Later on, drummer Mike Botts and keyboardist Larry Knetchel (who came to replace Royer) joined the band. Bread became one of the hot commodities during the early 1970s, with hits such as “Make It With You,” “It Don’t Matter To Me,” “If,” “Baby I’m­A Want You,” “Everything I Own,” and “Lost Without Your Love.” The band split in 1977.

Even while with Bread, Gates launched his solo career releasing his self­produced debut album First in 1973. Its leadoff single “Clouds” peaked at #47 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #3 on the Billboard adult contemporary singles chart. Another single off the album, “Sail Around The World,” reached at #50 on the Hot 100 (#11 adult contemporary). The album itself reached #107 on the Billboard 200.

His second LP Never Let Her Go was issued in 1975; it went to #102 on the Billboard 200. The album’s title track went to #29 on the Billboard Hot 100, Gates’ first Top 40 hit.

Gates’ third LP Goodbye Girl (1977) peaked at #165 on the pop album chart, despite its title track going to #15 on the Billboard Hot 100 (#3 on the adult contemporary singles chart). “Goodbye Girl” was also his most successful single to date, and also appeared on the hit 1977 film of the same title. Gates released his next two studio albums Falling In Love Again (which featured the single “Where Does The Lovin’ Go”) and Take Me Now (with the title track as the single). He created many memorable tunes such as “Everything I Own,” which he wrote as tribute for his father who Gates saw as a big influence in his life.

In 1994 Gates released another album of new material, Love Is Always Seventeen(which reached #39 on the Heatseekers album chart). He reunited with his former Bread band mates Griffin (with whom he had settled legal disputes regarding the use of the “Bread” name, which he and Griffin co-­owned), Botts and Knetchel in 1996 to stage a final Bread tour. Griffin, Botts and Knetchel have since passed away, leaving him and Royer the only surviving Bread members.

Gates has virtually been out of the public eye, contenting himself in his California ranch where he also keeps his own recording studio."

GFYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen Lt Col Charlie Brown LTC Greg Henning LTC Jeff Shearer Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj William W. "Bill" Price Maj Marty Hogan CPT Scott Sharon CWO3 Dennis M. SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL SSG William Jones SGT John " Mac " McConnell SP5 Mark Kuzinski PO1 H Gene Lawrence PO2 Kevin Parker PO3 Bob McCord
Maj Kim Patterson

Awesome!

Great show, band...song.