David Gates--The Goodbye Girl (1977)

     Before forming Bread in 1967,  David Gates was a well known studio musician and producer. His credits ran from Elvis to Merle Haggard, to Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band. During this time he had also recorded a number of unsuccessful singles, but his pairing with Robb Royer and Jimmy Griffin produced soft rock magic as the group had a number of top ten singles.
     The fact that record label Elektra always chose Gates' songs as singles was a source of antagonism for Griffin who was a fine composer in his own right. Of course one couldn't argue with the fact that all eleven singles were hits, but it entered into the group breaking up in 1973 much to the surprise of fans and record company alike.
     Gates immediately went off and recorded, "First" in 1973, which sounded (not surprisingly) like a Bread album. If you ever find this, give it a listen as several songs equaled what he wrote with his former group. They reunited again in 1975 for one more album, which provided another Gates' penned hit, "Lost Without Your Love" before breaking up once again.
     1977 brought him his biggest hit as a solo artist with this song, the theme from the movie, "The Goodbye Girl" starring Marsha Mason and Richard Dreyfuss who won an Oscar that year for the role. The song itself reached number fifteen. A follow up ("Took The Last Train") reached the top 40, but with the exception of the occasional single and a Bread reunion tour in 1996/97, Gates has enjoyed life on his cattle ranch in Northern California.