May 12, 2020 —– Chart #30

Hello Musical Friends,

Today’s song is pretty mellow. “If” is a song written by American singer-songwriter David Gates in 1971. Originally popularized by his group Bread, the song charted at number four on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 when released as a single in 1971 and number six in Canada. The song also spent three weeks at number one on the U.S. Easy Listening chart, and one week at the top of the Canadian AC chart. In the U.S., Bread’s version was the shortest song title to become a top ten hit until 1993, when Prince (musician) hit No. 7 with “7”, later matched by Britney Spears’ No. 1 hit “3” in 2009.

“If” has been a perennial favorite at weddings (for example, as a first-dance song) ever since it was released. Bread was an American soft rock band from Los Angeles, California. They had 13 songs chart on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1970 and 1977. The band consisted of David Gates (vocals, bass guitar, guitar, keyboards, violin, viola, percussion), Jimmy Griffin (vocals, guitar, keyboards, percussion) and Robb Royer (bass guitar, guitar, flute, keyboards, percussion, recorder, backing vocals). On their first album session musicians Ron Edgar played drums and Jim Gordon played drums, percussion, and piano. Mike Botts became their permanent drummer when he joined in the summer of 1969, and Larry Knechtel replaced Royer in 1971, playing keyboards, bass guitar, guitar, and harmonica.

I have received a few song requests that are going into the que. Feel free to send your request, maybe I will get to it.

Keep Rockin’,

Stan