Gary Loizzo, lead singer and guitarist with Chicago’s American Breed, died of cancer Saturday (January 16) at the age of 70. Formed as Gary and the Knight Lites, the group saw some local success in 1963 with “If I’m Lonely Tomorrow” on Kedlen Records and continued recording for three other labels before being discovered by officials of ACTA Records who were snowed-in during Chicago’s blizzard of 1967. With a name change to the American Breed, the group scored success that year with “Step Out Of Your Mind” (#24-1967) before hitting with “Bend Me, Shape Me” (#5) early the next year. But the follow-up, “Green Light” (#39-1968) proved to be their only other top 40 tune (though they charted locally with “Ready, Willing And Able” that year as well). Nevertheless, the American Breed were in high demand for commercial jingles, including such products as Coca-Cola, American Airlines, Partridge Weiners and the TV show, “Temperature’s Rising.” A change to more R&B-flavored records as Ask Rufus (later shortened to Rufus) followed Gary’s departure and eventually led to fame for lead singer Chaka Khan. Gary, meanwhile, formed a suburban Chicago recording studio where he engineered (and sometimes produced) the city’s top talent, including Styx, REO Spedwagon, Survivor and Dennis DeYoung. He was twice nominated for Grammys for his engineering work.
We played this song on WJMK all the time when I worked there. His biggest hit...
