Remember David Gates, the person who led the band Bread in the 1970s?

There is a good probability that you would hear a song by the band with the unremarkable name Bread if you were listening to Top 40 radio in the United States during the decade of the 1970s. With David Gates at the helm, the band achieved six Top 10 singles on the Hot 100 chart. These records included the soft-rock classics “Baby I’m-a Want You,” “If,” and the number one smash of 1970, “Make It With You.” Gates is also the group’s primary guitarist and vocalist.

A multi-instrumentalist who also played keyboards and percussion, Gates established the popular group in Los Angeles in 1968 as a means of singing his own compositions. Gates was also a member of the band. In addition to “The Guitar Man,” “It Don’t Matter To Me,” and “Lost Without Your Love,” he was responsible for writing the majority of the band’s signature singles.

Tulsa, Oklahoma was the place where Gates was born on December 11, 1940. He was the son of musicians. Leon Russell was the moniker that Claude Russell Bridges, who later changed his name to Leon Russell, played the piano for in his first band, which was called the Accents. On the occasion of the band’s performance with Chuck Berry, Gates was given his first opportunity. In 1959, Gates tied the knot with Jo Rita, the girl he had a crush on in high school.

In 1961, Gates and his family relocated to Los Angeles, where he began his career in music. He began his career by working as a studio musician and writing songs. It was in the beginning of 1964 when the Murmaids achieved a number three hit with his song “Popsicles and Icicles.” This was his first important triumph as a songwriter. Throughout the course of the decade, Gates has published a number of singles under his own name and has worked with a wide variety of celebrities, such as Elvis Presley and Bobby Darin.

Bread was formed in 1968 by him, Robb Royer, and Jimmy Griffin. Soon after, they obtained a contract with Elektra Records, which would serve as their home for their whole career. A moderate amount of success was achieved by their self-titled debut album, which was recorded in 1969 with session drummers Jim Gordon and Ron Edgar. Later on in that year, Mike Botts became their permanent drummer after joining the band.

As a result of the song “Make It With You,” which topped the pop singles chart in 1970, their second album became a true success, reaching number twelve in the United States.