On this day (August 22) in 1970, the soft-rock group Bread scored its first and only No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Make It with You.” The classic mellow love ballad featured deceptively risqué lyrics, at the time at least, sung from the perspective of a guy trying to convince a woman whom he doesn’t know too well to sleep with him.
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“Make It with You” was written and sung by Bread co-lead vocalist/multi-instrumentalist David Gates. The song was released as a single in June 1970, and was included on the group’s second album, On the Waters, which arrived in July of that year.
“Make It with You” knocked The Carpenters’ “(They Long to Be) Close to You” from the top of the Hot 100. It spent a week at No. 1 before being replaced by Edwin Starr’s “war.”
Although Bread was a quartet, “Make It with You” only featured contributions from Gates and drummer Mike Botts. David sang all the vocal parts and played acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and bass. He also produced the track, which featured a string arrangement as well.
“Make It with You” was certified gold by the RIAA for sales of more than 500,000 copies in the U.S.
More About “Make It with You” and Bread’s Chart Success
Gates shared his recollection of writing “Make It with You” in the liner notes of Bread’s 1996 Retrospective compilation.
“I got goosebumps while I was writing that song,” he admitted. “I knew that I was onto something, that it was better than the run-of-the-mill song, but I had no idea that it would do as well as it did. It was the fourth song that we started for the album, and as soon as Elektra heard it, they wanted to put it out immediately. We had to sprint to the finish line to complete and release On the Waters so we could take advantage of ‘Make It With You’ being such a big single.”
He continued, “I realized while I was writing the song that it was meant for just a solo vocal and that a string section was appropriate for it. I wanted a fairly bare-bones rhythm track, and we had a hard time getting it to work. I ultimately ended up going in with just Mike Botts, and he sat there playing drums while I played acoustic guitar to start the track off right. Then I added the bass and the electric guitar afterwards, because that was the only way I could control the emotional feel.”
“Make It with You” began a run of 12 consecutive Top-40 singles for Bread. Five of those tunes also reached the Top 10 of the Hot 100— “It Don’t Matter to Me” (No. 10, 1970), “If” (No. 4, 1971), “Baby I’m-a Want You” (No. 3, 1971), “Everything I Own” (No. 5, 1972), and “Lost Without Your Love” (No. 9, 1976).
Although the band also featured two other accomplished songwriters, Jimmy Griffin and Robb Royer, Gates composed all of the group’s hits.
More About David Gates
Before co-founding Bread, Gates established himself as a successful songwriter, producer, and session musician. He wrote the song “Popsicles and Icicles,” a No. 3 hit for the girl group The Murmaids in 1964. His songwriting credits also include “Saturday’s Child,” which The Monkees recorded for their 1966 self-titled debut album.
During the 1970s, Gates enjoyed a moderately successful solo career. His biggest solo hit was “Goodbye Girl,” the theme of the popular 1977 film of the same name. The song peaked at No. 15 on the Hot 100.
Gates, who is 84, last released a solo studio album in 1994, Love Is Always Seventeen. He retired from the music business many years ago.
(Photo by Gary Merrin/Fotos International/Getty Images)
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