By Gary Bennett
Fellow baby boomer music lovers will tell you there was no shortage of soft-rock artists in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. I loved many of them.
If you think back to the softest rock acts of the day, you’ll no doubt come up with solo artists like Barry Manilow, Billy Joel, James Taylor, John Denver and Elton John. You might even conjure up a few soft-rock duos like Simon and Garfunkel, Seals and Crofts and the Carpenters.
But when it comes to a true band — a four- or five-piece musical ensemble — that made a conscious effort to keep it oh-so-mellow, you’d be hard-pressed to come up with anyone softer than Bread.
The case can easily be made that Bread was the softest rock band of all time, at least until Air Supply came along in the late ‘70s. Bread helped define the soft-rock genre, which also became associated with easy listening and adult contemporary music. Their distinctive, squeaky-clean sound and image practically begged for parody or tribute.
Tribute seems to have won out, since we now have the Bread tribute band TOAST.
TOAST will come to the Weinberg Center for the Arts at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 24 with its show “TOAST — The Best of Bread,” part of the Weinberg Center’s LIVE! Series.
TOAST promises to take audiences on a journey back in time, performing the familiar hits that dominated AM radio in the early ‘70s, plus some deeper cuts for the (yes, these do exist!) “Bread Heads.” Many of the hits remain staples on oldies radio stations to this day.
“We don’t pretend to be Bread, but we honor them collectively and individually through our stories, images and, of course, their timeless music that we re-create as closely as we can to the originals, as our audiences remember them,” TOAST’s Troy Jolley said in an interview with 72 Hours.
TOAST is known for recreating Bread’s sound with surprising fidelity. Lead singer Jeff Clark offers the same sweet vocal style as Bread’s frontman, David Gates. Clark is a lifelong fan of Bread and Gates. A Bread song was unmistakable back in the ‘70s because of Gates’ distinctive, gentle voice and the way he delivered his songs. The same can be said for Clark today.
TOAST was created when Clark was asked in 2017 to sing a few Bread songs for a summer concert series in Utah. He recruited a few friends to help out. The response was so positive that TOAST was born. Since then, the group has performed across the country to enthusiastic crowds. This will be its first visit to Frederick.
The band’s choice of the name TOAST is an interesting one, considering the negative connotation of the slang term. We all get the everyday connection between toast and bread, but how many times have we described something as “toast” when it’s not working out and may be doomed?
According to Jolley, however, the name is meant to signify a celebration of Bread and its music. That’s why the band was originally called “A Toast to Bread” before shortening its name to TOAST. The show is intended as a homage to the talented members of Bread from appreciative fan-musicians — or “Bread well done,” according to Jolley.
The story of the original Bread is an interesting one.
Bread was founded by singer-songwriter David Gates, along with Jimmy Griffin and Robb Royer, in Los Angeles in the late ‘60s. Gates had left his Oklahoma roots for Los Angeles in the timeless quest for fame and fortune in the record business. He was one of the few who made it and realized his dream.
Bread’s early attempts at hit-making failed, but the band gained traction in 1970 with the release of its second album, “On the Waters,” featuring the No. 1 hit single “Make It with You.” Written and sung by Gates, the song quickly established Bread as a major act and enchanted young lovers across the country with its longing, romantic lyrics.
The band followed up that success with “It Don’t Matter to Me,” a Gates song from its first album. The single was also a hit, reaching No. 10 in 1970.
Buoyed by its seemingly overnight success, Bread began touring and recorded its third album, “Manna,” released in 1971. It included “Let Your Love Go,” which reached No. 28, and the top-five hit “If,” a tender ballad that would become one of the band’s signature songs.
In January 1972, Bread released “Baby I’m-a Want You,” its most successful studio album, which peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard albums chart. The title track was another smash hit, also peaking at No. 3. Memorable follow-up singles “Everything I Own” and “Diary” reached the top 20. (“Diary” may be one of the saddest songs ever recorded. Take a listen to see why.)
The next album, “Guitar Man,” was released later that year and reached No. 18. It produced three top-20 singles: “The Guitar Man” (No. 11), “Sweet Surrender” (No. 15) and “Aubrey” (also No. 15). The first two reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Easy Listening chart, later known as Adult Contemporary.
All told, during those four heady years from 1970 to 1973, Bread charted 11 hit singles, each seemingly softer and gentler than the previous one. The band was a staple of AM radio.
But by the end of 1973, it was just about all over.
Fatigue from years of recording and touring, along with disagreements over songwriting and which songs would be released as singles, strained relationships within the band. Tensions were especially high between Gates, the frontman who sang all of Bread’s biggest hits, and Griffin, who was also a talented songwriter.
With plans for another album faltering, the band decided to call it quits.
Gates and Griffin returned to their solo careers with mixed results. Meanwhile, Bread’s greatest-hits compilation, “The Best of Bread,” released in 1973, became a massive success, peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard albums chart. As a teen in the early ‘70s, your record collection wasn’t complete without “The Best of Bread.”
But the breakup wasn’t the end of Bread’s story.
The band reunited in 1976 and released another album, “Lost Without Your Love,” in early 1977. The title track became the group’s final top-10 hit, reaching No. 9. Unfortunately, renewed tensions between Gates and Griffin meant the reunion didn’t last.
Gates went on to score a major solo hit with “Goodbye Girl,” the theme song from the 1977 movie “The Goodbye Girl.” The song reached No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1978. The romantic comedy was also notable for Richard Dreyfuss’ performance, which earned him the Academy Award for best actor.
Bread eventually reunited once more for an anniversary tour in 1996 and 1997, giving fans another opportunity to hear the original band perform its beloved songs.
Unlike TOAST, the name Bread was arrived at in the most random of ways.
According to David Gates, “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 Beatles and 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.”
Surviving Bread members Gates and Royer are now in their 80s, retired from the music business and living quiet lives. Although they are not involved with TOAST, the tribute band’s mission is to keep their music alive for audiences old and new.
And as a lasting testament to a romantic spirit, Gates has been married to his high school sweetheart for more than 60 years, despite achieving overwhelming success in a public business that doesn’t always lend itself to such an achievement.
Gary Bennett is a longtime Frederick resident who spends his time hiking, biking, volunteering and providing childcare for grandchildren. He is married and retired from his career as a nonprofit marketing executive.