David A. Gates (born December 11, 1940, in Tulsa, Oklahoma) is an American singer-songwriter, best known as the lead singer of the group Bread, which during the 1970s peaked the music charts with numerous well known songs. The band is now in the Vocal Group Hall of Fame.
Life and early career
Gates was surrounded by music from infancy, as the son of a band director and a piano teacher. He became proficient in piano, bass, and guitar by the time he enrolled in Tulsa's Will Rogers High School. Gates joined local bands around Tulsa. During a concert in 1957, his high school band backed Chuck Berry.[1] Later, Gates released his first local hit single, "Jo-Baby," a song he had written for his’ sweetheart, Jo Rita, whom he married in 1958 while enrolled at the University of Oklahoma.
In 1961, he and his family moved to Los Angeles, where Gates continued writing songs, and he worked as a music copyist, as a studio musician, and as a producer for many artists — including Pat Boone. Success soon followed. His composition "Popsicles and Icicles" hit #3 on the US Hot 100 for The Murmaids in 1963. The Monkees recorded another of his songs, "Saturday's Child." By the end of the 1960s, he had worked with many leading artists, including Elvis Presley, Bobby Darin, Merle Haggard, Phil Spector and Brian Wilson. In 1965, Gates produced the Glenn Yarbrough hit, "Baby, the Rain Must Fall." In 1966, he produced two singles on A&M Records for Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band which were hits in the Los Angeles area.
In the meantime, Gates had been releasing singles of his own on several labels. "Manchester 101" "Theres A Heaven/She don't cry 196?". "Mala 413" "You'll Be My Baby/What's This I Hear". "Mala 418" "The Happiest Man Alive/A Road That Leads To Love". Both In 1960. "Mala 427" "Jo Baby/Teardrops In My Heart". In 1961 "Planetary 103" "Little Miss Stuck Up/The Brighter Side". "Planetary 108" "Let You Go/Once Upon A Time". Under The Psuedenym of "Del Asley" in 1965 & "Del-Fi 4206" "No One Really Loves A Clown/You Had It Commin' To Ya". He Also released a single under the name of The "Manchesters" in 1965 on the Vee Jay Label.
Bread and fame
In 1967, Gates produced and arranged the debut album of a band called The Pleasure Faire,[2] of which Robb Royer was a member. Electra offered The Pleasure Faire a recording contract. A little over a year later, Gates and Royer got together with Jimmy Griffin to form Bread. The group was signed by Elektra Records, where it would remain for the eight year life of Bread. It released its first album, Bread, in 1969, which peaked at #127 on the Billboard 200. The first single, "Dismal Day," written by Gates, was released in June, 1969, but did not sell well.
Bread's second album, On the Waters, with a new drummer, Mike Botts, was released in 1970, and became a breakout success. It contained the #1 single "Make It with You," and was the first of seven consecutive Bread albums to go Gold in the U.S. Bread's next three albums, Manna (1971), Baby I’m-a Want You (1972) (featuring Larry Knechtel as a new member of the band, replacing Royer) and Guitar Man (1972) were also successful, with more chart singles and gold records. From 1970 to 1973, Bread charted 11 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, all of which were written and sung by Gates. That caused some antagonism between Gates and Griffin, who was a significant contributor to Bread's albums as a singer and songwriter. Bread disbanded in 1973, much to the surprise of fans and the music industry. Their last concert was performed at the Salt Palace which was located in Salt Lake City, Utah
Gates recorded and produced his solo album First in 1973. The single "Clouds," an edited version of the album track "Suite Clouds and Rain," peaked at #47 on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart, and #3 on the Adult Contemporary chart. The full album version was played extensively by Radio Caroline Presenter Samantha Dubois at the end of her early morning radio programme, and become her closing theme.[3] A second single, "Sail Around The World," reached #50 on the singles chart and #11 on the Adult Contemporary chart. The album reached #107 on Billboard's album chart. In 1975 Gates released the album Never Let Her Go. The title track was released as a single, and reached #29 on the Hot 100 chart and #3 on the Adult Contemporary chart. The album itself reached #102 on the Billboard 200.
Bread reunited in 1976 for one album, Lost Without Your Love, released late that year. The title track—again written and sung by Gates—reached #9 on the Billboard Hot 100. Bread then disbanded again, and at the end of 1977, Gates released what would be his most successful single as a solo artist, "Goodbye Girl," from the 1977 film of the same name. It peaked at #15 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1978. To capitalize on that success, Gates put an album together in 1978 that featured material from his first two solo albums mixed with some new material. It yielded another hit single, "Took The Last Train," which reached #30 on the Billboard Hot 100 but the album itself made it only to #165 on the Billboard 200. Botts and Knechtel from Bread continued to record and tour with Gates. On one tour they were billed as "David Gates & Bread," which brought a lawsuit from Griffin, and an injunction against the use of the name Bread. The dispute was resolved in 1984.
Gates released the albums Falling In Love Again (featuring "Where Does the Loving Go"), which peaked at #46 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1979, and Take Me Now, which peaked at #62, in 1981. He recorded a duet with Melissa Manchester, "Wish We Were Heroes," included in her 1982 album Hey Ricky. Gates was less active in music during the remainder of the 1980s. He concentrated on operating a cattle ranch in Northern California, located on land he purchased in the 1970s. He returned to music in 1994, when he released Love Is Always Seventeen, his first new album in 13 years.
Gates and Griffin put aside their differences, and reunited for a final Bread tour in 1996-1997 with Botts and Knechtel.
The David Gates Songbook, containing earlier hit singles and new material, was released in 2002. Gates's songs have been recorded by many artists, including Telly Savalas, who had a UK #1 hit with "If" in 1975; Vesta Williams, who made a rendition of "Make It With You" in 1988; the band CAKE, which covered "The Guitar Man" in 2004; Ray Parker Jr, who also recorded "The Guitar Man" in 2006; and Boy George, who took "Everything I Own" to #1 on the UK chart, when he covered the Ken Boothe reggae version of Gates's song, which itself had been a UK #1 in 1974. The lyrics sung by Boothe differ from the Gates original, most notably in the title itself, which Boothe sings as "Anything I Own"! Jack Jones recorded a Bread tribute album, "Bread Winners" (1972) including the Gates' standard, "If, which has long been a staple of Jones' live performances. The songs "Lost Without Your Love" and "Everything I own" are said to have been written by David about feelings when his father passed away.
Gates lives in California.
Discography
Albums
See also
Songs written by David Gates
References
External links
