ABBA

Multi-instrumentalist, producer and singer-songwriter from Tulsa, Oklahoma, who came from musical stock, as his dad directed a band and his mom taught piano. In his teens, he was already playing bass, guitar, and piano, and performing on the local club circuit.

He attended the University of Oklahoma and married his college sweetheart, for whom he wrote his first regional hit, “Jo-Baby”. Although his parents wished for him to stay in school, the muse was too strong, and David began saving money so he and his wife and kids could move to Los Angeles, California.

With only two hundred dollars to their name, they packed up the Cadillac and headed west. He had a club gig set up for him by some fellow Okies who had already set up shop in The Golden State. They were released from their duties after only three nights. Just like that, the job was gone and so was the money. An uncle helped the Gates stay afloat by buying them food. David and his band-mates kept knocking on club doors until they finally landed another gig, and at last some money started coming in again.

Not content to rest on the laurels of another night-club job, David did some networking on the weekends at The Crossbow, a musicians’ haven in the San Fernando Valley. It was here that he got a chance to hang out and jam with the likes of Glen Campbell and Leon Russell, who were already attracting studio work. This led to opportunities for David to record demonstration reels and work as a session musician.

He was more interested in songwriting than singing but Roger Gordon encouraged him to record his own stuff. David arranged a meeting with Jack Gold at Columbia Records but Jack, for whatever reason, dismissed his aspirations of being a recording artist. In the meantime, David’s songs were suddenly being picked up by other artists: In 1963, The Murmaids took “Popsicles and Icicles” all the way to #3; The Monkees recorded “Saturday’s Child”.

David also found himself in demand as a producer: He scored another hit in 1965 with Glenn Yarbrough’s “Baby, the Rain Must Fall” and a pair of local hits with Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band, and arranged and produced The Pleasure Faire’s debut recording.

One of the members of The Pleasure Faire, Rob Royer, invited David to jam with him and his songwriting partner, James Griffin. They hit it off instantly and decided to start their own band, thinking they could have more success together than separately. Now they just needed a name. B names were popular at the time (e.g., Beatles, Bee Gees) and they flirted with the name Bush, which later would be a real band name, but when a delivery truck rolled by it delivered the goods: Bread.

Bread released their eponymous debut in 1969 and it went to #127 on the Billboard album chart and yielded a minor hit, entitled “Dismal Day”. Its follow-up, “Make it with You” shot to #1. The band continued to pepper the top-ten with soft-rock ballads such as “Baby I’m a Want You”, “If”, and “It Don’t Matter to Me”. In 1972, they released Guitar Man, and it bore the fruit of three hit songs: “Everything I Own”, “Diary”, and the title track. In just three years, the group had hit the Billboard chart eleven times. All of their hits were penned and performed by David, which did not sit well with James Griffin, who also wrote and sang on their albums. In 1973, the band broke up.

David’s solo efforts fared much better on the AC chart than the Billboard Hot 100, but he continued to enjoy a few hits throughout the ‘70s, including “Clouds”, “Never Let Her Go”, and “Sail around the World”. Bread got back together briefly and hit the top ten again with the title track of Lost without Your Love. There was still no love lost between David and James, however, and once again, Bread was toast.

David sang and wrote the theme song from The Goodbye Girl, and it turned out to be his biggest solo hit, reaching #15 in 1978. In order to take advantage of this success, he cranked out another album, and one the songs, “Took the Last Train”, chugged all the way to #30.

A reunion of sorts took place when David began performing again with Bread alums, Mike Botts and Larry Knechtel, and Bill and Warren Ham. They billed themselves as “David Gates and Bread”, which bugged James Griffin, who sued. David released two more albums, Falling in Love Again and Take Me Now, which enjoyed moderate chart success. He duetted with Melissa Manchester on “Wish We Were Heroes”, which appeared on her album, Hey Ricky, in 1982.

Bread’s Anthology was released in 1985, but by this time David had dropped out of the music scene, preferring the serenity and solitude of his Northern California ranch. He re-emerged in 1994 with a new solo album, Love is Always Seventeen. In 1996, David, Mike Botts, James Griffin and Larry Knechtel decided to give it one more shot at a reunion tour, which lasted through 1997. The David Gates Songbook hit the shelves in 2002.

His compositions have continued to capture the imagination of artists in the new millennium: “Guitar Man” has been covered by Ray Parker, Jr., and Cake. David still lives on his ranch in California and enjoys producing and writing in the comfort of his home studio.

Joe Stampley recordings

Everything I Own (David Gates)

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