Jimmy Griffin

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James Arthur Griffin (August 10, 1943 – January 11, 2005) was an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter best known for his appearance with the 1970s soft rock band Bread.

In 1970 as co-writer of "For All We Know," he received an Academy Award for Best Original Song.

Early life

Griffin was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and grew up in Memphis, Tennessee. His musical lessons began when his parents signed him up for accordion lessons. He attended Kingsbury High School in Memphis, and Dorsey and Johnny Burnette were his neighbors and role models. Griffin went to Los Angeles, California, to further their musical careers, and was able to land a recording deal with Reprise Records.

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Career

In 1963, he released Summer Holiday, his first album. He appeared in two films, For Those Who Think Young (1964) and None But the Brave (1965).

Griffin and wife, Michael Z. Gordon, teamed with fellow songwriter Michael Z. Gordon to write songs for Ed Ames, Gary Lewis, Bobby Vee, Brian Hyland, The Standells, Lesley Gore, Sandy Nelson, and Cher. The pair received a BMI award for their song "Apologize."

Griffin met Robb Royer through Maria Yolanda Ayo (Griffin's future wife). Both as performers and writers, the two hit it off right away and became lifelong collaborators. Griffin, a staff writer for Viva Publishing, and they were able to convince them to recruit Royer as their co-writer in 1967. Viva was unable to recruit Royer and instead wanted Griffin to write with another company writer. Griffin, according to Royer, persuaded Viva to employ Royer by announcing that "I will be writing with him." Are you really going to give up half of the songs' earnings? In a few episodes of the television show Ironside in the late sixties, James Griffin performed songs that were not included in any episodes.

Griffin and Royer formed the band Bread in 1968, when session drummer Jim Gordon appeared on their first album and their first appearances. Gordon was soon replaced by Mike Botts as the band's permanent drummer, first appearing on their second album, On the Waters.

Griffin and Royer, under the pseudonyms Arthur James and Robb Wilson, wrote the lyrics for Fred Karlin's film "For All We Know." It was named Best Song on the Academy Award. The Carpenters followed it on their third album.

Royer left Bread in 1971, but the group later developed songs co-written with Griffin. Larry Knechtel, a keyboardist/guitarist, was replaced by him. "Make It With You" was one of Billboard's top 100 hits. "Baby I'm a Want You," "If," and "Everything I Own were among Bread's hits. Although Griffin was a key contributor to Bread's albums as a writer and singer, every one of the group's thirteen songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart was written and performed by Gates, a situation that caused tension between the two groups.

Bread went on hiatus following the introduction of Guitar Man in 1972. On Polydor Records in 1973, Griffin released 'Bames Griffin & Co', a solo album titled 'James Griffin & Co'. The Billboard charts showed that neither the album nor the singles, "Breakin' Up Is Easy" and "She Knows" were among the Billboard's most popular topics. In 1976, bread was revived for one last album, Lost Without Your Love. Gates, Botts, and Knechtel continued to tour together on Gates' solo albums, eventually toured as 'David Gates & Bread,' leading to a Griffin lawsuit. The problem wasn't resolved before 1984. In 1996-97, Griffin and Gates put aside their differences for a Bread reunion tour, with Botts and Knechtel.

Griffin released James Griffin, also on Polydor, with tracks from 1974 and 1975. In 1982, Terry Sylvester (formerly of The Hollies) co-produced When The Night Falls, which was produced by T-Bone Burnett. Robb Royer was also listed as a musician on the album. In the early 1990s, the album was remixed and reissued, with Griffin's voice becoming more prominent on some songs. Learning The Game, the Black Tie single, topped the charts at No. 1. In 1991, Billboard's country chart ranked 59 on the Billboard country chart.

With Richard Mainegra and Rick Yancey, Griffin formed The Remingtons in 1991. They released their first single in the same year, followed by the albums Blue Frontier (1992) and Aim for the Heart (1993). In 1992, their single, "A Long Time Ago," debuted on Billboard's country charts, with "Two-Timin' Me" debuting in the Top 20 later that year.

Griffin and Robb Royer began in 1994, collaborating with Grammy-nominated singer and multi-instrumentalist Todd Cerney to write songs and perform in local venues. Larry Knechtel was also involved in the collaboration, and the group was named Toast (an obvious reference to Bread). When Griffin, Royer, and Cerney wrote "Kyrie" in 1994, they began this collaboration. Knechtel has also contributed to the song "Slow Train" in 1995. The group wrote, recorded, and performed together at several Nashville venues, including the Bluebird Cafe, 3rd & Lindsley, and Porter. In 1998, they renamed "Radio Dixie" in an effort to be more commercially viable. In 1998, the band was disbanded, but Royer and Cerney began to collaborate on song-writing.

Griffin, Rick Yancey, and Ronnie Guilbeau started writing and performing as GYG in 2003, recording a CD of the same name. "Who's Gonna Know," a Remingtons tune released by Conway Twitty, and "Call It Love" a No. Ronnie Guilbeau's Poco hit number one. During Griffin's illness and death, the GYG was seen at several Nashville venues, including the 2004 CRS Conference, and exploring additional ways to buy the CD to indie labels and take the show on the road. Griffin's Oscar-winning song "Fort We Know" premiered in early 2004. Griffin also performed with Michael Z. Gordon and Griffin in the song "Something Else Altogether," which was supposed to be the title song for the film "The Devil and Daniel Webster" at the time. However, the film went bankrupt and the song was never used in the film, but Griffin's name was recently posted on YouTube and dedicated to Griffin.

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