Share this site - Email/Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest

Super Seventies RockSite! presents

 David Gates - In His Own Words

Blacklight Bar

The sounds of Bread were mostly David's creations and performances. His soft style and sentimental lyrics combined to sell millions of records in the Seventies in America and Great Britain.

David Gates was playing night clubs and dances for sororities and fraternities, and my parents wanted me to finish college, but I was losing interest. My grades were slowly slipping. At the end of my junior year I told my father I'd like to leave Tulsa and go to California to give it a try. I said, "Let me go out for the summer, just to see what happens."


Bread's Seventies
Billboard Top 40 Singles


"Make It With You"  7/70  #1
"It Don't Matter To Me"  10/70  #10
"Let Your Love Go"  1/71  #28
"If"  4/71  #4
"Mother Freedom"  8/71  #37
"Baby I'm-A Want You"  11/71  #3
"Everything I Own"  2/72  #5
"Diary"  5/72  #15
"The Guitar Man"  8/72  #11
"Sweet Surrender"  11/72  #15
"Aubrey"  2/73  #15
"Lost Without Your Love"  12/76  #9

He said, "Take two years and give it a shot. If it doesn't work out, you can still finish college." So I saved my nightclub money, which was all of $10 a night at the time. I was married with a one-year-old and a six-week-old, we lived with my parents. I had an old Cadillac that I'd bought from a friend of my dad's. When I'd saved $200, my wife, the kids, and me took off in the Cadillac for California.

I had a nightclub job waiting because of some friends who had already made the trip from Oklahoma. I go out there, and on my third night in the club we got fired. And the $200 is gone -- first month's rent, gas deposit, phone deposit, groceries. And nobody to help me except my uncle who lived in Whittier. He couldn't give me any money, but he brought me food.

We drove from club to club, three a night, auditioned for everybody until we finally got a job and got rolling again. And then on Saturday nights, after hours, musicians from all over the city would meet at a place called the Crossbow, in the Valley. It was at the Crossbow that I met guys like Steve Douglas, Glen Campbell, James Burton, Leon Russell, Chuck Blackwell, Jerry Cole. Slowly they were getting into recordings, mostly demo sessions, some union jobs. By jamming with these people, I got more work. All of a sudden, I was being asked to play on demo sessions and then on recordings.

Then I began submitting songs, which got me fired up about writing because, hey, I could work at home and I didn't have to spend all night in clubs.

It was Roger Gordon who then suggested, "Why don't you sing your songs? I mean, you're already singing on demos. Why don't you go for a deal on a label?"

David Gates

"...I felt like I should be doing my own stuff, just to see if I could do it better than the people who were recording it."

I said, "I really don't want to go on the road. I'm happy being behind the scenes." But I felt like I should be doing my own stuff, just to see if I could do it better than the people who were recording it.

So with that motivation in mind I went to Columbia to see Jack Gold. I'd done a lot of arranging for Jack's artists, so I asked him, "Will you sign me?"


Bread's Seventies
Billboard Top 10 Albums


Baby I'm-A Want You  3/72  #8
The Best Of Bread  4/73  #9

He said, "You don't want to do that. That's hard work." He didn't take me seriously.


Bread Lyrics
Bread Videos

At about the same time, I had produced a small group called the Pleasure Faire. One of the guys in the group was Robb Royer, who was writing with James Griffin as a team. Rob suggested one day that I come over and meet James. And I did. They played me two or three of their songs, and I played them two or three of my songs. Then we decided to form a group and look for a deal collectively because we'd do better as a group than independently. That's how Bread started in late '67.

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? Ah, bread truck, bread." 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. 

 Reader's Comments - Submit your comment

LoveMyMusic13 (2017)

This is bizarre. He acts like he just met Leon Russell out in L.A when they went to school together and were in a band together in Tulsa. Leon went out to L.A. at the age of 17. He skipped a grade and graduated younger than the usual 18. So, I am fairly certain Leon helped Gates get some gigs and session work.

-----

Fritzer (2015)

I got interested in songwriting from listening to David's tunes and studying his style of writing, he's really just a wonderful writer and presents his songs with great complimentary arrangements. Playing and singing "If" as commented by others here helped me win my wife. I still plug away writing songs and have had some radio play with little financial success but it is one of the great pleasures in my life. I wish Mr. Gates continued success writing and his family good health and long and happy lives.

-----

MarxingRightAlong (2015)

Aladdin Theatre For the Performing Arts, Vegas 1979 = first BREAD concert ever. PLAYER opened for them. David Gates and his entire discography are one of the few things that soothe me into knowing: I'm in this world Not a part of it. :) :)
He is beyond music, he is The BREAD Of Life. I had heard somewhere that he sailed around the world solo, can any one confirm ? (( always wanted to do that ))

-----

Doug oliver (2015)

I wish I could speak to David Gates.

-----

srt8pilot (2015)

I proposed to my wonderful wife with 'If' playing on my stereo. We have now been together 41 years. Thank you, David Gates!

-----

Scott A Hunt (2014)

My first concert was Bread with my mother by accident.. She asked if i wanted to go because my dad missed his flight on business and I said YES.. She had been listening to Bread for years and every bar of every song and every lyric had registered with me. My mother is still to this day a great piano player/singer. I was 12. It had a profound effect on me. To this day David's music is still one of my favorite play lists.. At 13 my second concert was KISS.. It also changed my life.. But as one of the first true rockers of my day, Bread is still a close second to the Beatles..
At 22 I opened a successful studio in Seattle and have been a studio musician ever since. I have seen almost every band I grew up with.. Because of some of my successes I was able to play with some of my heroes while touring the world and have met almost all of them.. Yet I've never been able to track down David Gates and and have had a tough time finding people that have his contact info. Perhaps he prefers it that way.
He had some great players. Bread was a great band. I would give anything to talk with him, or even better, play a song with him one time but I can't find a site where you can reach him. Can anyone help? Much appreciated.. Scott.. I can be reached at Mrmoss@comcast.net or 206-383-4499

Michael Hughes (2017)

Good luck, Scott! :)

JackRussell (2020)

Scott, I hope by now you've looked David up on Wikipedia. He lives in Mt. Vernon, Washington.

-----

james carroll (2014)

I took trumpet lessons from David's father for four years. His father secured a full scholarship for me at Tulsa University, resulting in me being the first member in my family to get a college degree. I will forever remain grateful to his guidance and assistance. I was also a fraternity brother of David's brother, Ron. I remember playing duets with Mr. Gates while in another room, in their home, David could be heard practicing the violin---maybe it was his sister. In any case, what a great family. Col. James Carroll {USAF-retired).

David McGee (2016)

Mr. Carroll--On the off-chance that you read this two years after this post, is there any chance you have any contact with anyone in the Gates family? I'm sure David's father is no longer with us, but do you still have contact with Ron? I'm trying to reach David to inquire about an interview with him for a memoir that involves the Tulsa music scene in the late '50s, when his band was the hottest local band in a town with a lively local scene. If you can point me in any potentially fruitful direction, I would be most grateful. You can reach me via email at cagney24@gmail.com. Thank you for any and all help, Also, please let me know how to contact you--sounds like you have some interesting background on the Gates family that merits an interview with you too! --Best regards, David McGee


Check out the
Bread
section at Amazon.com
or CD Universe!


Beautiful Day Icon  Main Page | Seventies Superstars | The Classic 500 | Seventies Almanac | Search The RockSite/The Web