The American Breed

The American Breed
The American Breed in 1968. L to R: Gary Loizzo, Lee Graziano, Charles Colbert, Jr., Al Ciner
Background information
Origin	Brookfield, Illinois, United States
Genres	Rock
Years active	1962–1970
Past members	Gary Loizzo Al Ciner Charles Colbert Lee Graziano Kevin Murphy Brian Parkinson

The American Breed was an American rock band that was formed in 1962 and disbanded in 1970, later evolving into Rufus.

The group was formed in Cicero, Illinois as Gary & The Knight Lites. The group's greatest success was the single, "Bend Me, Shape Me," which reached number five on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1968. The song, written by Scott English and Larry Weiss, had previously been recorded by an all-girl band known as the Shape and had been a hit on the British charts for the British group Amen Corner. It had also been recorded by the The Outsiders after they had reached the top ten with "Time Won't Let Me" in 1966. Contributing to the success of the American Breed's version of "Bend Me, Shape Me" was the excellent arrangement of the song by the band's record producer, Bill Traut, who added horns among other changes. The group also appeared on the 16 December 1967 episode of the television show American Bandstand, along with Pink Floyd.

The original members of the group were Gary Loizzo on vocals, Charles Colbert, Jr. on bass guitar and vocals, Al Ciner on guitar and vocals, and Lee Graziano on drums, trumpet and vocals. All members were from the greater Chicago area. As Gary & The Knight Lites, they were somewhat successful in Chicago and released one single.

On January 20, 1967 a freak snow storm that dumped twenty inches on Chicago changed the group's fate when Kenny Myers, former Senior Vice President of Mercury Records, found himself stranded and met with Producer Bill Traut in his studio at Universal Recording. After Traut played Meyers some of the band's tapes, Meyers was impressed enough to sign them to his new record label, Acta (a subsidiary of Dot Records, itself owned by Paramount Pictures, whose record holdings later evolved into the Famous Music Group) and suggested they change their name. "They told us Gary and the Knight Lites sounded a little dated," Loizzo told Chicago Tribune in 1994. "So we put a bunch of names in a hat and pulled out American Breed". The band's first single was "Ï Don't Think You Know Me," written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin.