In 1948, Donald George Brewer was born in Flint, Mich., on Sept. 3. Seventy-eight years later, he’s still behind the drum kit for the band he helped start more than half a century ago.
Don Brewer, founding member, drummer and singer of Grand Funk Railroad, turns 78 on Thursday, Sept. 3.
Brewer started playing young, forming his first band, the Red Devils, when he was just 12. He eventually joined Terry Knight and the Pack, where he played alongside future Grand Funk bandmate Mark Farner and scored his first Top 40 hit before he was 20.
In 1969, Brewer and Farner teamed up with bassist Mel Schacher, formerly of Question Mark and the Mysterians, to form Grand Funk Railroad. The Flint trio quickly became one of the biggest live acts in America, even as critics were considerably less enthusiastic.
According to “The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll,” Grand Funk became enormously successful with remarkably little help from critics or radio. In 1971, the group famously sold out New York’s Shea Stadium in just 72 hours, breaking a ticket-sales record previously held by the Beatles.
But Grand Funk’s greatest commercial success was still ahead.
Don Brewer Wrote and Sang Grand Funk’s First No. 1 Hit
After splitting with manager and producer Knight, Grand Funk brought in keyboardist Craig Frost and eventually hired Todd Rundgren to produce the band’s 1973 album We’re an American Band.
The timing was critical.
In a 2021 interview with Ultimate Classic Rock, Brewer recalled that Grand Funk was broke after its bitter split with Knight just as FM radio was changing. The band needed to evolve from the sprawling underground rock that had made it famous into something that could thrive on increasingly hit-driven radio.
Rundgren, Brewer said, understood immediately.
“We had to make the transition,” Brewer recalled. “Todd was totally on board with that. It really worked; the whole thing worked.”
For Brewer, Rundgren’s approach to recording was a revelation. Instead of recording the drums relatively flat and adding effects later, Rundgren let Brewer hear essentially the finished sound through his headphones as he played.
“For me, as a drummer, it was freedom!” Brewer said. “You start playing differently when you’re hearing that back, and I thought the band just responded and we played accordingly.”
The collaboration produced We’re an American Band, and its title track would become the biggest hit Grand Funk had yet seen.
Brewer wrote the song and sang lead, something that distinguished it from many of Grand Funk’s earlier recordings, which generally featured Farner out front.
And there’s a colorful story about how Brewer supposedly came up with its title.
The Story Behind ‘We’re an American Band’
In “The Heart of Rock & Soul,” critic Dave Marsh recounts a tale in which Grand Funk and members of Humble Pie were drinking together in Baton Rouge in 1973 when an argument broke out over the relative merits of British and American rock.
According to that story, Brewer defended American performers including Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino, Little Richard and Elvis Presley before triumphantly declaring, “We’re an American band!”
It’s a terrific story.
Brewer says it didn’t happen.
He has explained in subsequent interviews that the song was instead inspired by Grand Funk’s life on the road. The band was constantly traveling from one city to another, and Brewer wanted to write about that experience, right down to the people and adventures they encountered along the way.
Whatever its exact origin, Capitol Records apparently knew Grand Funk had something special before the band even finished making it. Marsh writes that the label issued a press release about “We’re an American Band” before the song had been recorded and released the single before the final mixes of the album were complete.
The gamble paid off.
“We’re an American Band” entered the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 83 in July 1973 and climbed all the way to No. 1, becoming Grand Funk’s first chart-topper. The achievement was particularly dramatic considering the band’s previous highest-charting single, “Closer to Home,” had peaked at No. 22.
More than five decades after Grand Funk’s heyday, Brewer remains the band’s drummer and vocalist.
And that song he wrote about life on the road has long since become something bigger than a snapshot of one band’s wild touring years.
As Brewer put it in the chorus that helped send Grand Funk to No. 1: They’re an American band.
Related: Only Song in History to Reach the Top 3 in 3 Different Decades — By 3 Different Artists
Hence then, the article about founding member of iconic 70s rock band turns 78 was published today ( ) and is available on Parade ( Saudi Arabia ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Founding Member of Iconic ’70s Rock Band Turns 78 )
Also on site :